College of the Canyons jumped out to an 18-0 lead in the game's first five minutes and went on to rout the Orange Coast Pirates by a staggering 56 points in the final game of the first day of the Cougar Holiday Classic Tuesday night in Santa Clarita.
This one was an onslaught, a blowout of Biblical proportions. Obviously the key point in the evening was when COC head coach Howard Fisher presented this reporter with a t-shirt. That clearly sparked the hot start for the Cougars, and when combined with a slow start for Orange Coast, it became an avalanche, a tidal wave and, perhaps most noticeably, a really one-sided basketball game.
Canyons (8-5) made its first 6 shots of the game while Orange Coast started 0-for-3 with 2 turnovers to take a 14-0 lead. Then when the Cougars finally missed a shot, SF Rafael Love scored on the putback to make it 16-0. Then a steal & lay-up by PG Roman Delgado made it 18-0.
Orange Coast (5-10) finally got a point on a free throw by SG Tyler Payne with 15:09 left in the first half and a basket on a putback by Ctr Zach Matar 27 seconds later, but the Pirates never got back into the game.
Canyons stretched its lead to 30 points at 40-10 with 5:38 left in the first half. At that point, the Cougars were shooting a sizzling 82% from the field (18-for-22), a result of a lot of open looks and lay-ups.
At the half, Canyons was shooting 77% - compared to 15% for Orange Coast - and held a 51-14 lead. Even after cooling off a bit in the second half, Canyons finished the game having shot the Santa Clarita area code (.661) and building a staggering 50-25 rebounding advantage as well.
Five players scored in double figures for the Cougars. Love led the way with 19 pts, 17 in the first half, plus 12 rebs, 5 asts and 4 steals. The two Cougar centers, John Green and Ronald Harris each made 7 of 8 shots from the floor; Green had 16 pts and Harris had 15, and each had 6 rebs. PF Wesley Bartole had 12 pts and PG Brian Harris had 10.
For Orange Coast, SF Jason Payne had 10 pts, including a pair of threes, one of which lifted the Pirates to the 40-point mark in the final minute of the game. PG Marcus Partridge had 8 pts and Matar had 4 pts and a team-high 8 rebs.
box score
2011 Cougar Holiday Classic
Tuesday, December 27th @ College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita
First Round - 7 pm
Orange Coast Pirates 40:
3-Jo Jo Trinidad, PG - 0/3 fg, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
11-Mikey Molina, SG - 0/5 fg, 0/2 ft, 2 ast, 5 pf, 0 pts
13-Jason Payne, SF - 3/6 fg, 2/4 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 10 pts
23-Will Ligon, PF - 2/15 fg, 1 ast, 6 pts
40-Medrick Bell, C - 1/4 fg, 1/2 ft, 2 reb, 3 pts
14-Tyler Payne, G - 1/6 fg, 1/2 ft, 2 reb, 1 stl, 2 pf, 4 pts
15-Marcus Partridge, G - 4/8 fg, 3 reb, 8 pts
21-Dominique Nelson, F - 1 reb, 2 stl, 5 pf, 0 pts
42-Zach Matar, C - 1/8 fg, 2/2 ft, 8 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 4 pts
31-Darnell Banks, F - 2/5 fg, 1/3 ft, 1 reb, 1 stl, 2 pf, 5 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 14/60 fg (.233), 7/15 ft (.467), 25 reb, 7 ast, 0 blk, 6 stl, 19 pf, 40 pts
3-pt fg (5): J.Payne 2, Ligon 2, T.Payne
Fouled Out: Nelson 6:03 left, Molina 2:19 left
Turnovers (20): Ligon 4, Partridge 4, Molina 2, J.Payne 2, Bell 2, Matar 2, Trinidad, T.Payne, Banks, team
Canyons Cougars 96:
4-Rafael Love, SF - 7/13 fg, 3/4 ft, 12 reb, 5 ast, 4 stl, 3 pf, 19 pts
10-Roman Delgado, PG - 2/3 fg, 3/4 ft, 3 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 7 pts
24-Wesley Bartole, PF - 5/10 fg, 2/2 ft, 5 reb, 2 ast, 12 pts
25-Ronald Harris, C - 7/8 fg, 1/2 ft, 6 reb, 2 blk, 2 pf, 15 pts
31-Brad Wyche, SG - 2/3 fg, 3 reb, 6 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 1 pf, 6 pts
44-John Green, C - 7/8 fg, 2/3 ft, 6 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 3 pf, 16 pts
11-Steven Shares, F - 3/5 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 6 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 4 pf, 7 pts
5-Brian Harris, G - 4/7 fg, 2/4 ft, 5 reb, 2 ast, 10 pts
15-Lionel Poole, F - 2/2 fg, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 4 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 39/59 fg (.661), 14/21 ft (.667), 50 reb, 29 ast, 5 blk, 10 stl, 16 pf, 96 pts
3-pt fg (4): Love 2, Wyche 2
Turnovers (16): Wyche 4, Delgado 2, Green 2, Shares 2, Love, Bartole, R.Harris, B.Harris, Poole, team
Halftime Score: Canyons 51, Orange Coast 14
Updated Records: Canyons 8-5, Orange Coast 5-10
Canyons started the game with an 18-0 run in the 1st 5 minutes and led all the way.
