Highline Men’s Basketball Team Clinches Division

Highline Community College men’s basketball team (15-1, 20-7) clinched the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) Western Division crown on Saturday in a win against Pierce College, 81-78.

“We got the win under tough circumstances,” said Head Coach Ché Dawson. “I’m really proud of the kids for remaining focused, night and day, on winning the division title.”

In addition to the division title, Dawson was named the NWAACC’s Western Division Coach of the Year.

“It’s a nice honor, but it’s really a team and coaching staff honor,” Dawson said. “It reflects our outstanding team, assistant coaches and athletic director.”

The Thunderbirds go into this week’s NWAACC championships as the No. 2 seed in the Horizon Air final overall basketball polls, with Clackamas Community College, of Portland, Ore., taking the top spot.

The Thunderbirds first game in the tournament is against Eastern Division’s fourth-ranked Columbia Basin Community College, of Pasco, Wash., at 2 p.m. March 5 in Kennewick, Wash.

Highline Community College was founded in 1961 as the first community college in King County. With approximately 10,000 students and 350,000 alumni, it is one of the state’s largest institutions of higher education. The college offers a wide range of academic transfer and professional-technical education programs, with day, evening, online and weekend classes.

With the most diverse population of any college in Washington state, Highline takes a multicultural approach to education for the success of all its students and the prosperity of its surrounding communities. Alumni include former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, entrepreneur Junki Yoshida, Washington state poet laureate Sam Green and Boston Celtics forward Brian Scalabrine.