KENNEWICK — Thad Vinson, who couldn’t hit the side of a barn with a flamethrower most of the night, drilled a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left as the Peninsula College men’s basketball team upset top-ranked and No. 1-seeded Tacoma in the NWAACC quarterfinals Sunday.
The Pirates (20-7) beat powerhouse Tacoma 63-57 to advance to tonight’s semifinals at the Toyota Center.
Peninsula, which won its first two tournament games mostly with defense, will be going against high-scoring Spokane in the semifinals for the first time this year.
The game starts at 8 p.m.
Tonight’s winner plays for the NWAACC championship Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The Spokane Sasquatch (21-7) beat Clackamas 72-53 to advance to tonight’s game.
“They have high-scoring guards who can really shoot the ball and a couple of centers who are terrific,” Peninsula coach Lance Von Vogt said about Spokane.
“They will challenge us. On defense, they like to pressure.
“If we can handle their pressure and get the ball inside, we will do OK offensively.”
If the Pirates can get the ball inside, powerful DeShaun Freeman will be ready to take over.
The freshman center made the NWAACC first team and fell just short of making conference MVP honors.
Freeman had a double-double against the Tacoma Titans, scoring 12 points and pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds.
Freeman also had an amazing five blocked shots and he had four assists.
Clark scores 20
Mitrell Clark earned scoring honors in the quarterfinal battle with 20 points as he made 7 of 19 shots from the field, 2 of 6 from long-distance and 4 of 6 from the line.
But the shot of the night goes to Vinson, who made NWAACC second-team honors.
Vinson was struggling all night, making only 1 of 6 shots from the field and 0 for 2 from 3-point range, when Von Vogt sat him down with about 5 minutes to play to let him regroup.
“Thad told me he wasn’t going to take any more jump shots in the game, and I told him, ‘Oh yes you are. You’re going to come in big for us when it counts the most,’” Von Vogt said.
Vinson went back in with 3:30 left.
In the final moments, ahead by just a point, the Pirates grabbed the offensive rebound and threw the ball out to the corner where Vinson hit nothing but net for the four-point lead with almost no time on the shot clock.
Vinson ended up with five points on the night, making 2 of 7 from the field and 1 of 3 from beyond the arc.
Anthony Williams was strong on the boards with nine rebounds while Sammeon Waller dished out a game-high five assists.
Jorday Coby led the Titans with 16 points while Dominique Williams had 14 and Chris Holmes added 13.
The Pirates led 34-27 at halftime and led by nine points at times in the second half but the Titans made two big rallies and taking over the lead by one point twice.
“But Tacoma could only get ahead by one each time,” Von Vogt said.
“Our defensive intensity, our heart, our character and our toughness in the game was the difference.”
That toughness means that the Pirates can do no worse right now than play for third place in Tuesday’s final games.
And after taking out the top-ranked team Sunday, the Pirates have a legitimate shot at the championship game.
Only Spokane stands in the way.
Peninsula 63, Tacoma 57
Tacoma 27 30 — 57
Peninsula 34 29 — 63
Individual Scoring
Tacoma (57)
Williams 14, Coby 16, Holmes 13, Johnson 2, Davis 7, McIntosh 3, Tyler 2.
Peninsula (63)
Freeman 12, Vinson 5, Jeremiah Johnson 7, Clark 20, Williams 8, Waller 5, Jerry Johnson 6.