Top-seeded Clark ousted by Whatcom

EVERETT — Stephan Ammentorp felt helpless.

There he sat on Clark’s bench, picking up his fifth foul inside 2 minutes left in regulation. It prematurely ended a career night for the sophomore forward and Camas native, and in turn, his final college game.

“But it was the hardest thing to have to sit and watch,” he said.

And while he had no doubt his teammates would pick up the slack when he became a spectator — they did force overtime with Kaden Ogles’ game-tying shot in the closing seconds of regulation — the Penguins went scoreless the final 3 minutes of the 5-minute overtime for a 84-78 loss to Whatcom in Thursday’s opening round of the NWAC Men’s Basketball Championships at Everett Community College.

Whatcom (18-10 overall) advances to Friday’s Elite 8 matchup against Walla Walla, a last-second winner over Pierce, 69-67. Unlike previous years, the 2016-17 version of the tournament is single-elimination. Clark was the second of three No. 1 seeds to fall Thursday. Tacoma upset East No. 1 seed North Idaho, a title favorite, 86-81, in the day’s second game, and later, Mt. Hood topped North No. 1 Shoreline, 74-71.

But what hurt most from Thursday’s loss, Ammentorp said, was the Penguins weren’t ready for their season to end at 17-10. Especially not after a wild final two weeks, entering the tournament winners of four straight and seven of their final nine regular-season games to capture the NWAC South crown.

“You never expect it to stop on a dime,” Ammentorp said.

The Penguins’ final game of 2016-17 also was Ammentorp’s finale. The Union High School graduate plans to enroll at the University of Washington to study pre-med.

But what a final night he had.

His game-high 25 points on 12 of 16 shooting easily surpassed his previous-best of 17 back on Jan. 18. It also was his 10th game scoring in double figures, adding in eight rebounds and three blocks.

With Whatcom primarily using a four-guard lineup, the size advantage went to the 6-foot-8 Ammentorp. He almost doubled his 7.5 points-per-game average by halftime (14), and also scored 11 of Clark’s 17 points over a 9-minute second-half stretch to help rally the Penguins back from a double-digit deficit. They trailed by as many as 12 at 68-56.

But Ammentorp picked up foul No. 5 with 1:51 to play with Clark trailing by two after pushing his point total to 25 on a putback a possession earlier.

Clark’s reserves and role players came up clutch all game, especially in the closing minutes of regulation into overtime. Whatcom (18-9) limited Clark’s two leading scorers — Jordan Berni and Luke Osborn, who both average 13.2 points per game — to four apiece on a combined 4-of-19 shooting, and Clark started the overtime with two reserves on the floor: Ty Cleland and Lance Nelson.

Cleland had a season-best 24 points, including five 3 pointers, in 36 minutes.

Ogles, Clark’s starting point guard, tied it at 74-all with 12.9 seconds left to force OT before fouling out with 2:51 left in the extra period.

“Fouling out Stephan and Kaden was big,” Clark coach Kevin Johnson said. “We didn’t have enough to get over the top at the end.”

Osborn gave Clark at 78-76 lead — its first since 9-8 — but Whatcom closed the overtime on a 8-0 run.

Whatcom had four players finish in double figures, led by Daulton Lootens’ 22.

One of the main points Johnson stressed to his team postgame was to look at the season as a whole, not just Thursday’s loss. A season that included winning a region title for a fourth straight year.

“There’s not much you can tell them right after a loss like that,” Johnson said, “but when they give it some time, they’ll realize they put together a good run.”

Ozzie George, an NWAC all-defensive team selection, had a game-best 14 rebounds to go with his eight points.