The Lower Columbia College men's basketball team avenged it's only West Region loss of the season when they beat the South Puget Sound Clippers 62-59 on Thursday February 22nd.

Brandon Cotton hit two free throws with 26 seconds left to put the Devils up by three and AJ Hodges step back three right before the horn was short.

The intense win in front of a large, fired up crowd at Myklebust Gym gave the Devils share of first place with SPSCC, both teams at 11-1.

Tied 31-31 at the half, the Devils came out of the locker room and went on an 8-0 run to take control.  LCc went up by as much of 15 before the Clippers came storming back to take a one point lead inside of four minutes. That's when freshman forward Donald Scott went to work.  Scott hit a short jumper with 2:48 left, then made a steal and scored to put the Devils up by three. The Clips then got within one on a lay-up with 2:16 left.

Bricin Ford then made a steal before Cotton hit the two big free throws at the end.

In the battle between two of the top candidates for West MVP, Spencer Sweet scored 18 and AJ Hodges of the Clippers had 16. They were the only two players in the game to score in double figures.

Ford had eight off the bench including two thunderous dunks in the open court.  Kyle Daugherty scored five points including a follow dunk that got the Myklebust Gym crowd into a lather.

Cotton had a solid floor game with eight points, seven assists and four rebounds not to mention the clutch free throws at the end.

The Devils and Clippers are tied for the top spot with two league games to go.  Lower Columbia visits Highline on Saturday February 25th (2 pm), while the Clippers have a road game at Tacoma.  The regular season ends Wednesday February 28th with Tacoma at LCC and Grays harbor at SPSCC.

Lower Columbia is 19-7 overall after Thursday's win.