Hosting its first playoff game in its refurbished gym, and playing its first playoff game since 1983, #16 LA Pierce (16-11) rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to post a 71-60 win over WSC-North rival #17 Moorpark (16-11) before a raucous crowd Wednesday night in Woodland Hills.
It's been a long road back to glory for Pierce, which had no mens basketball program from the mid-1980s until 2002. Along the way, there were more obstacles as the Brahmas had 3 coaches in the first 3 years of the resuscitated program, seemed on the brink of the playoffs in 2006-07 only to have to forfeit 16 wins due to an administrative error, and suffered through a 2-22 season in 2007-08.
Then this season, the Brahmas became road warriors as their gym was unavailable due to renovations for much of the season until finally, on January 23rd, Pierce opened its new home with a 71-66 win over Oxnard.
After all that, a mere 13-point second-half deficit was a relatively minor obstacle. And thanks to 21 points from SG Jeremy White, 17 from SF Malcolm Collins and solid performances from PG Ever Lopez and Ctr Terran Carter, the rowdy pro-Pierce crowd got what it came for, a Brahma victory.
Early on, it looked like Moorpark was set to spoil the party, stifling the Pierce offense with a zone defense and shooting 53% from the floor to build an 11-point halftime lead. And the Raiders, who split their two regular season meetings with Pierce, increased the margin to 13 points at 47-34 early in the second half before Pierce took over the game.
Pierce scored the game's first two points to start things, but Moorpark scored the next five and took a 9-4 lead in the first few minutes. The margin reached double figures at 23-13 after a putback basket by PF Wendell Antoine and twelve points at 34-22 after a 3-point play by Ctr Mike Meza with 3:59 left in the first half.
Pierce rallied to cut the deficit to five points after a driving lay-up by PG Josh Thomas with 2:20 left in the half, but Moorpark scored the final six points of the half, pushing the lead back to 11 points at 40-29 after a basket by Antoine in the final seconds before intermission.
And when the second half started, it looked like more of the same as Moorpark pushed its lead to thirteen points at 47-34 after a driving lay-up by SG Kyle Olandt just less than four minutes into the half.
But after that, it was all Pierce. A 3-pointer by SG Ryan Rubino got things started, and a driving lay-up by White made it an 8-point game at 47-39. A 3-point play by White cut the margin to six at 48-42. A 3-pointer by Collins made it a 5-point game at 52-47. A Collins free throw after a steal by Lopez cut the margin to four points at 52-48. Then Lopez blocked a lay-up, starting a break that ended with the 5-8 sophomore point guard also scoring on a lay-up to make it 52-50 with 8:58 remaining.
Moorpark got a 3-pointer from SF Spencer Schulte to make it 55-50, but then the Pierce onslaught continued as the Brahma fans taunted the Raiders, yelling different things as each Raider touched the ball, such as "air ball" for the Raider had shot an air ball earlier in the half, and "traveling" for the Raider who had been called for travelling a few minutes earlier. And remarkably, they kept their taunts straight, heckling the same player with his taunt each time.
The energy seemed to sustain the Brahmas, who continued the rally. A putback basket by Ctr Michael Aguilar made it 55-52, and then a Collins 3-pointer tied the score at 55 with 7:19 left. Moorpark's Antoine scored on a driving lay-up and drew a foul to put the Raiders back ahead, 57-55, but missed the free throw with 6:53 left.
Thirteen seconds later, Pierce had the lead as Collins hit another 3-pointer with 6:40 left. And the momentum continued as Thomas scored on lay-up to make it 60-57. Then Lopez hit a 3-pointer to make it 63-57 with 4:46 left. Carter scored on a short jumper to make it 65-57. Two free throws by Collins made it a 10-point game at 67-55 with 3:27 left, and Pierce led by double figures the rest of the way.
Carter hit a mid-range jumper with 2:15 left to finish the run and make it 69-57, but by then the outcome was no longer in doubt. A pair of free throws by White after a rebound made it 71-58. Schulte made a pair of free throws for Moorpark to close out the scoring, making it 71-60.
For Pierce, White led the way with 21 pts and 11 rebs, both game-highs. Collins came off the bench for 17 pts, 14 in the second half, including 4 threes; he also had 6 rebs. Lopez had 10 pts, including 2 threes, and a team-high 4 asts. Carter had 6 pts and 10 rebs.
Meza led Moorpark with 19 pts, but like the rest of the Raiders faltered late, missing his last 9 shots of the game. Schulte had 13 pts and Antoine had 12. Moorpark shot just 23% in the second half after shooting 53% from the floor in the first half.
With the win, Pierce improves to 16-11 on the year. But now the Brahmas hit the road to take on #1 seed San Bernardino Valley Saturday at 7 pm.
Moorpark finishes 16-11.
box score
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - 7 pm
at Pierce College, Woodland Hills
Playoffs - Mini-Round
Moorpark Raiders 60:
1-Matt Mazarei, PG - 2/6 fg, 5 reb, 5 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 4 pts
3-Kyle Olandt, SG - 3/12 fg, 6 reb, 2 ast, 1 pf, 7 pts
4-Mike Meza, C - 8/19 fg, 2/3 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk, 2 stl, 3 pf, 19 pts
10-Spencer Schulte, SF - 4/7 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl, 1 pf, 13 pts
32-Wendell Antoine, PF - 5/10 fg, 2/5 ft, 5 reb, 1 stl, 4 pf, 12 pts
22-Ryan Islas, F - 1/3 fg, 2 reb, 2 pts
5-Billy Corcoran, G - 0/1 fg, 0 pts
20-Eric Strangis, F - 1/5 fg, 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 3 pf, 3 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 24/63 fg (.381), 7/12 ft (.583), 32 reb, 10 ast, 4 blk, 7 stl, 15 pf, 60 pts
3-pt fg (5): Schulte 3, Olandt, Meza
Turnovers (15): Mazarei 4, Meza 4, Schulte 4, Olandt 2, Strangis
LA Pierce Brahmas 71:
3-Daniel St. Hubert, SF - 1/4 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 2 pts
21-Jeremy White, SG - 7/13 fg, 7/7 ft, 11 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 21 pts
22-Terran Carter, C - 3/6 fg, 10 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 6 pts
31-Ever Lopez, PG - 4/12 fg, 2 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 2 pf, 10 pts
34-Javael Boykins, PF - 1/4 fg, 4 reb, 1 stl, 3 pts
24-Ryan Rubino, G - 1/3 fg, 2 pf, 3 pts
13-Arash Riahi, C - 0/2 fg, 2 reb, 0 pts
55-Josh Thomas, G - 2/7 fg, 0/1 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 pf, 4 pts
5-Malcolm Collins, F - 5/7 fg, 3/4 ft, 6 reb, 2 ast, 17 pts
23-Bertrand Kamga, F - 0/2 fg, 1 ast, 0 pts
33-Michael Aguilar, C - 1/2 fg, 3/4 ft, 4 reb, 1 blk, 3 pf, 5 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 25/62 fg (.403), 13/16 ft (.813), 49 reb, 13 ast, 4 blk, 6 stl, 15 pf, 71 pts
3-pt fg (8): Collins 4, Lopez 2, Boykins, Rubino
Technical Foul: Collins (administrative - no pf)
Turnovers (17): White 5, St. Huber 4, Thomas 3, Lopez 2, Boykins, Collins, Aguilar
Halftime Score: Moorpark 40, LA Pierce 29
Updated Records: LA Pierce (#16-seed) 16-11, Moorpark (#17-seed) 16-11
Moorpark led by 13 at 47-34. Pierce went on an 16-5 run to get within 2 at 52-50. After a Schulte 3-pointer made it 55-50, Pierce went on a 19-2 run to take control of the game.
This is Pierce's 1st playoff game since 1983!
