{"id":30948,"date":"2026-03-05T23:13:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/?p=30948"},"modified":"2026-03-05T23:13:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T07:13:17","slug":"bulldogs-cruise-to-final-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/2026\/03\/05\/bulldogs-cruise-to-final-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulldogs Cruise To Final Four"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"basketball
BC Athletics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

(recap courtesy of NWAC Sports)
Bellevue (29-2, 14-0) punched its ticket to the NWAC Final Four with a dominant 78-59 victory over Southwestern Oregon (24-7, 11-5) in Game 10 of the 2026 NWAC Men’s Basketball Championship, presented by ICCU, on Thursday at Columbia Basin College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bulldogs’, who finished the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the coaches’ poll, have proven their record with a pair of strong wins to start the tournament. After dropping their first two games of the season, Bellevue has now rattled off 29-straight wins to reach their first Final Four since 2023 when they won the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellevue showed its prowess on both ends of the floor as they shot 49.1 percent from the field while holding SWOCC, the 2025 runner-up, to under 40 percent. The Bulldogs also had four scorers in double-digits for a second-straight game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellevue opened the first half with a strong performance, establishing an early lead through consistent scoring. After trailing 4-0, Bellevue tied it at 4-4 with a layup by Isaiah White at 16:38. Sawyer Cottrell had multiple 3-pointers, including one at 13:30, helping the Bulldogs to a 17-10 lead. Josiah Johnson’s efforts in the paint and at the free-throw line extended their advantage to 36-27 at 2:16. SWOCC narrowed the gap with a late three-pointer by Connor Wilson at 1:13, but the Bulldogs held on to finish the half ahead, 38-33.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bulldogs surged forward in the second half, extending a narrow lead to a decisive victory over the Lakers. Will Woodward led the charge with multiple key baskets, including a layup and a 3-pointer that widened the margin early in the half. The Bulldogs’ defense was also pivotal, with Johnson and Cottrell contributing timely steals and blocks. The North Region champions capitalized on turnovers and second-chance points, ultimately building a 22-point lead with 43 seconds remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson led the Bulldogs with a standout performance off the bench, scoring 29 points with six steals and three rebounds in just 24 minutes. His shooting included 8-of-15 from the field and 11-of-15 from the free-throw line. White had 14 points and six rebounds while Cottrell was effective from beyond the arc, sinking three 3-pointers as part of his 11-point game with eight rebounds. Woodward added 15 points and eight boards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brighton Palmer emerged as a defensive anchor, leading the team with three blocks, while also adding nine points and five rebounds. Jett Lundberg had nine points and three rebounds. MJ Tia matched Lundberg’s scoring output with nine points and led the team with six rebounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bulldogs will next play in the Final Four next week on Friday, March 13 against defending champions Lower Columbia at 12 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BC Athletics (recap courtesy of NWAC Sports)Bellevue (29-2, 14-0) punched its ticket to the NWAC Final Four with a dominant 78-59 victory over Southwestern Oregon (24-7, 11-5) in Game 10 of the 2026 NWAC Men's Basketball Championship, presented by ICCU, on Thursday at Columbia Basin College. The Bulldogs', who finished the season as the No. ...more about Bulldogs Cruise To Final Four<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3358,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-mens-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3358"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30948"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30948\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30949,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30948\/revisions\/30949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/athletics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}