PF Montreal Harris had 18 pts and SG Anthony Dees had 16 as #5 Mt. San Jacinto edged #7 El Camino, 76-72, in the championship game of the 2011 Bill Brummel Classic at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.
Mt. San Jacinto (12-3) saw most of a 13-point lead evaporate in the final six-plus minutes, but managed to hold on thanks to a key basket by Harris with 36 seconds left and some strong bullpen help from SF Danny Hopkins who came in to get the save.
El Camino (9-2) jumped out to a 21-13 lead after a basket by PF Cameron Gray with 8:42 left in the first half, prompting a timeout and high-volume discussion with his team by MSJC coach Patrick Springer.
That strategy worked well, as the Eagles responded with an 11-0 spurt that became a 15-2 run as Mt. San Jacinto took a 28-23 lead. Dees hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 21 and Ctr Jamar Cannon hit a 3-pointer to give Mt. San Jacinto a 24-21 lead. A steal & jam by Dees made it 28-23.
El Camino rallied to tie the score at 31 on a Gray jumper with just over a minute, and neither team scored after that before the halftime buzzer.
When the second half started, Mt. San Jacinto got a basket from SF Josh Gouch, a 3-pointer from Dees and a steal & lay-up from Harris to take a 38-31 lead as El Camino started the second half with 5 turnovers and 2 missed shots before a steal & lay-up by SF Christen Clark with 16:11 left. The Warriors got within two points at 42-40 and within a point at 47-46 after a pair of Clark free throws with 11:13 remaining.
Then Mt. San Jacinto started to pull away. A 3-pointer by SG Taylor Bell made it 54-46. The lead grew to 9 when Harris made two straight baskets to make it 60-51. Then Gouch converted a 3-point play after a steal by Dees, making it 63-51 with 6:37 left. A driving lay-up by PG Alex Wilson moments later made it 65-52.
El Camino rallied, however, behind Clark and PG Joshua Wilson, who scored 26 of their combined 30 points in the second half. A basket by Clark off an assist from Wilson made it a 5-point game at 68-63 with 3:21 left. Then a putback basket by Ctr Julian Camper made it 68-65. A free throw by Clark after a steal made it 68-66 with 1:46 left.
Mt. San Jacinto was still nursing two-point lead when Harris scored from the post with 36 seconds left to make it 72-68. Wilson made two free throws for El Camino to make it 70-68 with 26.9 seconds left, and with the shot clock off it was clear that the Warriors were going to have to foul.
Enter Hopkins, MSJC's version of Trevor Hoffman. The 6-5 forward was 0-for-2 from the floor for the game, and he was fouled twice in the final 25 seconds as El Camino looked for a way to rally. But Hopkins closed things out as he swished 4 free throws in 4 attempts, including a pair with 3.8 seconds that made it 76-72 and clinched the win for the Eagles.
For Mt. San Jacinto, Harris had 18 pts and 8 rebs and was named tournament Most Valuable Player. Dees had 16 pts, including 4 threes, and 3 steals and was named to the all-tournament team. Gouch had 9 pts, 6 rebs, 3 asts, 1 blk and 1 steal. And Cannon not only was solid with 7 pts and 3 rebs in place of foul-plagued Ctr Greg Dixon, but was part of a tandem that made this almost certainly the first game in California Community College history to feature two players named Jamar Cannon, one on each team. And that might have been the difference in the game as MSJC's Jamar Cannon outscored his El Camino counterpart, 7-3, the same differential as the game's final score.
For El Camino, Wilson had 15 pts, 10 rebs and 3 asts, and was named to the all-tournament team. Clark had 15 pts, all in the second half, plus 4 rebs, 2 asts and 3 steals. Camper came off the bench for 12 pts and 6 rebs. Gray had 9 pts and 5 rebs and was named to the all-tournament team.
box score
Bill Brummel Classic
Saturday, December 17, 2011 @ Saddleback College, Mission Viejo
Championship Game - 4 pm
El Camino Warriors 72:
10-Jamar Cannon, SF - 1/6 fg, 0/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 3 pts
12-David Howard, SG - 3/5 fg, 1/1 ft, 2 reb, 4 ast, 4 pf, 7 pts
13-Joshua Wilson, PG - 5/14 fg, 5/6 ft, 10 reb, 3 ast, 4 pf, 15 pts
23-Cameron Gray, PF - 4/6 fg, 5 reb, 1 pf, 9 pts
50-Shawn Ray, C - 0/3 fg, 2 reb, 2 blk, 0 pts
40-Julian Camper, C - 3/5 fg, 6/7 ft, 6 reb, 3 pf, 12 pts
5-Isaiah Hawkins, G - 1/1 fg, 1 stl, 2 pf, 2 pts
34-Jonathan Furlow, F - 2/4 fg, 2 reb, 3 pf, 4 pts
11-Christen Clark, F - 4/5 fg, 7/9 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 3 pf, 15 pts
3-Derrick Twiggs, G - 1 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 0 pts
4-Laquan Augustine, F - 2/2 fg, 2 reb, 5 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 25/51 fg (.490), 19/25 ft (.760), 38 reb, 11 ast, 2 blk, 4 stl, 22 pf, 72 pts
3-pt fg (3): Cannon, Gray, Augustine
Turnovers (26): Wilson 6, Cannon 5, Clark 4, Gray 3, Hawkins 3, Twiggs 3, Ray
Mt. San Jacinto Eagles 76:
3-pt fg (7): Dees 4, Bell 2, Cannon
Halftime Score: Tied at 31
El Camino led by 8 at 21-13, but then Mt. San Jacinto went on an 15-2 run to lead, 28-23.
Harris (MVP) & Dees from Mt. San Jacinto, and Gray & Wilson from El Camino were named to the all-tournament team.
0-Josh Gouch, SF - 3/7 fg, 3/7 ft, 6 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 9 pts
1-Anthony Dees, SG - 5/12 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 1 pf, 16 pts
2-Montreal Harris, PF - 7/16 fg, 4/7 ft, 8 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 18 pts
5-Alex Wilson, PG - 1/3 fg, 3/4 ft, 1 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 5 pts
33-Greg Dixon, C - 1/2 fg, 3 reb, 1 blk, 5 pf, 2 pts
13-Taylor Bell, G - 2/5 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 4 pf, 7 pts
32-Jamar Cannon, C - 3/6 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl, 1 pf, 7 pts
22-Danny Hopkins, F - 0/2 fg, 4/4 ft, 2 reb, 1 ast, 4 pts
23-Sam Natt, G - 0 pts
team rebounds: 2
Totals: 25/59 fg (.424), 19/28 ft (.679), 29 reb, 16 ast, 2 blk, 10 stl, 21 pf, 76 pts
Turnovers (14): Harris 3, Cannon 3, Gouch 2, Dees 2, Peterson 2, Wilson, Bell
Updated Records: Mt. San Jacinto (#5-South, #10-Calif) 11-3, El Camino (#7-South, #14-Calif) 9-2
Mt. San Jacinto led by 13 at 65-52. El Camino got within 2 at 68-66 with 1:46 left but never quite caught up.
Hopkins made 4 FTs in the final 25 seconds to get the save for Mt. San Jacinto.
