Canyons Tourney - Day 3 (December 29):
Championship: West LA 71, LA Harbor 68
3rd Place: Canyons 71, #4 Antelope Valley 65
Consolation: Moorpark 77, Riverside 65
MVP: Saul Peters, West LA
All-Tourney: Zac Jordan, West LA; Thurmond Sutton, Harbor; Carlton Spencer, Canyons; Curtis Dunwoody, Canyons; Chad Acerboni, Moorpark
West LA (9-7) shot a sizzling 62.5% from the floor, led by a perfect 6-for-6 performance by Tourney MVP Saul Peters, and held off a final late charge from LA Harbor (9-8) to capture the Cougar Holiday Classic Tourney at College of the Canyons.
Peters finished with 17 pts including 4 threes and also grabbed a game-high 9 rebs for the Oilers. Five of those baskets, and all the threes, came in a first half in which West LA shot 75% from the field. That allowed the Oilers to hold a 5-point lead at halftime despite committing 16 first-half turnovers. Peters also made a free throw with 4 seconds left that helped secure the win.
Early on, it looked like Harbor was the hot-shooting team as the Seahawks made 5 of their first 6 shots from the floor to build a 10-3 lead. But then West powered back with threes by PG J.R. Martinez, SF Dado Kabov and Peters to take a 13-12 lead. The Oilers would lead the rest of the way, though it would be close at the end.
Harbor trailed by 10 at 64-54 with just over 4 minutes left when SG Thurmond Sutton led one last rally. A basket and 2 FTs by Sutton trimmed the lead to 6. Then with 1:40 left Harbor cut further into the margin when a putback basket by SF Kevin Ritchie and a steal and layup by PF Chris Campbell made it 66-64. After 2 FTs by Martinez put West ahead by 4, Sutton scored on a putback to make it 68-66 with 42 seconds left. And after PF Zac Jordan made a pair of FTs to make it 70-66, Sutton again trimmed the lead to 2 with a layup with 5 seconds remaining.
But the Seahawks couldn't quite pull even. When the ball was inbounded, Peters was fouled immediately with only 1 second running off the clock. Then he missed the first FT, but made the second to make it 71-68 with 4 seconds left. Harbor then inbounded the ball to PG Bruce Bevans, whose 25-foot 3-point attempt at the buzzer bounced off the rim.
Kabov tied Peters for team honors with 17 pts while Jordan added 12. Jordan, who scored 23 pts in the first-round win over Moorpark, was named to the all-tourney team. Sutton led Harbor with 21 pts while Bevans added 13 and Ritchie had 12.
unofficial box score
Wednesday, December 29, 2004 - 3 pm
COC Holiday Classic - Championship Game
West LA Oilers 71:
12-J.R. Martinez, PG - 1/3 fg, 2/2 ft, 2 reb, 5 ast, 5 pts
22-Saul Peters, SG - 6/6 fg, 1/3 ft, 9 reb, 1 stl, 17 pts
30-Dado Kabov, SF - 7/11 fg, 2/4 ft, 1 reb, 1 stl, 17 pts
34-Zac Jordan, PF - 4/7 fg, 4/4 ft, 3 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 12 pts
52-Steve Bertrand, C - 2/3 fg, 1/2 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 5 pts
32-Kenneth Irby, F - 3/4 fg, 1/1 ft, 1 reb, 4 ast, 7 pts
44-Lamont Smith, F - 2/4 fg, 2/4 ft, 6 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk, 6 pts
25-Clifton Nichols, G - 0/2 fg, 2/2 ft, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 pts
24-Dhafir Washington, G - 1 reb, 1 ast, 0 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 25/40 fg (.625), 15/22 ft (.682), 29 reb, 19 ast, 2 blk, 5 stl, 71 pts
3-pt fg (6): Peters 4, Martinez, Kabov
Turnovers (26): Martinez 6, Peters 5, Jordan 5, Smith 4, Irby 3, Kabov, Nichols, team
LA Harbor Seahawks 68:
3-Thurmond Sutton, SG - 9/17 fg, 3/6 ft, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl, 21 pts
5-Chris McCray, PF - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 0 pts
25-Keith Richard, C - 4/7 fg, 7 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 8 pts
30-Kevin Ritchie, SF - 5/8 fg, 2/2 ft, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 12 pts
44-Bruce Bevans, PG - 6/13 fg, 1/2 ft, 2 reb, 1 stl, 13 pts
23-Chaz Logan, F - 1/9 fg, 4 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 2 pts
32-Chris Campbell, F - 2/3 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 4 pts
31-Roderick Perry, G - 1/5 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 2 pts
21-Antoine King, C - 1/3 fg, 4/4 ft, 1 stl, 6 pts
10-Shane Nolan, G - 0 pts
team rebounds: 0
Totals: 29/66 fg (.439), 10/14 ft (.714), 26 reb, 13 ast, 2 blk, 11 stl, 68 pts
3-pt fg (0)
Tech Foul: Sutton
Intentional Foul: Logan
Turnovers (9): Bevans 3, Logan 2, Sutton, Richard, Ritchie, Campbell
Halftime Score: West 38, Harbor 33
Updated Records: West 9-7, Harbor 9-8
