Canyons broke a 72-all tie with an 11-1 game-ending run in the final 3-plus minutes to win a key WSC-South game against visiting Santa Monica Wednesday evening in Santa Clarita.
Canyons (12-10, 4-5) entered the game tied for 5th place in the WSC-South, but moved into a 3-way tie for 3rd place at the end of the evening's games. Santa Monica (9-12, 4-5) is one of those three teams tied for third, but has lost both games this season to Canyons.
Wednesday night, Santa Monica scored the game's first six points and jumped out to a 20-11 lead after making 8 of its first 14 field goal attempts. But that lead evaporated late in the first half, and the Corsairs made just 34% of their shots (18-for-53) after that hot start.
Canyons took a 33-31 lead on a 3-pointer by Coley Apsay with 2:45 left in the first half, and led, 40-37, at the break. And the second half started with SMC's second-leading scorer, Derrien King, on the bench as a result of a coaching decision. Canyons stretched its lead to as many as 11 points at 58-47 after a steal & lay-up by Apsay with 14:12 left in the game.
But then Santa Monica rallied, cutting the margin to three points at 68-65 after a driving lay-up by Brandon Baker with just over six minutes to go. A basket by Baker off a pass from Damon Harvin cut the Canyons lead to a single point. Then a 3-pointer by Jerry Shevlin tied the score at 72 with 3:25 remaining.
A 3-point play by Tullio Parry - off a pass from Apsay - broke the tie and started the game-ending 11-1 run. Parry scored again to make it 77-73 with 2:28 left, and Santa Monica never scored again. Two free throws by Chance Cole made it 79-73 with 47.3 seconds to go and put Canyons in control. Two steals by Apsay in the final 30 seconds helped clinch the win, setting up another basket by Parry and two more free throws by Cole to close out the scoring.
Parry led all scorers with 23 pts, which came on 8-for-10 from the floor, and he also had a team-high 10 rebs. Cole had 15 pts, 5 rebs and 2 asts, and Ricardo Greaves had 15 pts, 7 rebs and 2 asts. Apsay had 14 pts plus game-highs of 7 asts and 6 steals.
For Santa Monica, Shevlin scored a team-high 19 pts, including 3 three-pointers, Baker came off the bench for 12 pts and 3 asts, and Ronny Price also had 12 pts. Admassu Williams had a double-double with 10 pts and a team-high 10 rebs.
box score
Wednesday, February 4, 2015 - 5 pm
at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita
WSC-South
Santa Monica Corsairs 73:
0-Derrien King, PF - 2/8 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 8 pts
1-Jerry Shevlin, SG - 8/16 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 19 pts
2-Mike Garcia, SF - 2/3 fg, 2 ast, 6 pts
4-Ronny Price, PG - 4/7 fg, 3/4 ft, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 12 pts
23-Admassu Williams, C - 4/5 fg, 2/3 ft, 10 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 10 pts
10-Brandon Baker, G - 3/11 fg, 6/8 ft, 1 reb, 3 ast, 12 pts
3-Kris Berry, G - 0/5 fg, 0 pts
20-Jaquan Green, F - 2/6 fg, 2 reb, 2 stl, 2 pf, 4 pts
32-Larry Haliburton, C - 1/2 fg, 2 reb, 2 pts
15-Carter Gallo, G - 0/2 fg, 2 reb, 2 pf, 0 pts
22-Damon Harvin, F - 0/1 fg, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 0 pts
24-Brandon Crawford, C - 1 blk, 2 pf, 0 pts
11-Nick Baldwin, F - 1 reb, 1 ast, 0 pts
14-Arman Stevenson, F - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 26/67 fg (.388), 13/17 ft (.765), 32 reb, 11 ast, 2 blk, 5 stl, 17 pf, 73 pts
3-pt fg (8): Shevlin 3, King 2, Garcia 2, Price
Turnovers (13): King 4, Baker 3, Garcia 2, Williams 2, Shevlin, Green
Canyons Cougars 83:
10-Coley Apsay, PG - 5/15 fg, 2/2 ft, 4 reb, 7 ast, 1 blk, 6 stl, 1 pf, 14 pts
24-Chance Cole, SF - 5/12 fg, 4/4 ft, 5 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 15 pts
31-Victor Nwaba, SG - 1/8 fg, 1/2 ft, 5 reb, 1 ast, 3 pf, 3 pts
34-Tullio Parry, PF - 8/10 fg, 6/6 ft, 10 reb, 1 blk, 1 pf, 23 pts
44-Ricardo Greaves, C - 7/9 fg, 1/2 ft, 7 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 2 pf, 15 pts
15-Brodric Smith, G - 3/4 fg, 1/2 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 3 pf, 7 pts
41-Brenden Otero, C - 2/7 fg, 7 reb, 3 ast, 2 blk, 2 pf, 4 pts
20-Riley Honaker, G - 1/2 fg, 4 reb, 4 ast, 4 pf, 2 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 32/67 fg (.478), 15/18 ft (.833), 50 reb, 22 ast, 5 blk, 7 stl, 17 pf, 83 pts
3-pt fg (4): Apsay 2, Cole, Parry
Turnovers (17): Apsay 4, Greaves 4, Nwaba 3, Cole 2, Parry 2, Otero, Honaker
Halftime Score: Canyons 40, Santa Monica 37
Updated Records: Canyons 12-10, 4-5 in WSC-S; Santa Monica 9-12, 4-5 in WSC-S
Santa Monica made 8 of its first 14 field goal attempts and led 20-11 midway through the 1st half.
Canyons took a 33-31 lead, never trailed again and led by 11 at 58-47 with 14:12 left.
Santa Monica tied it at 72 with 3:25 left, but then Canyons ended the game with an 11-1 run to win it.
