PF Christopher Miller poured in 30 points as Compton gave its playoff hopes a big boost with a 80-74 upset of #8-ranked East LA Friday night in SCC-North action. The host Tartars led wire-to-wire, but had to withstand several rallies by East LA before finally holding on for the win.
Compton (10-11, 5-5) opened a 13-point lead in the first half, only to see East LA (17-7, 6-4) rally to tie the score just before halftime. Then Compton opened a 15-point lead several times in the second half. East LA got the deficit down to five points and had the ball in the final seconds, but a blocked shot by 5-8 PG Donta Miller helped Compton hold on for the win.
Compton jumped out to an early 4-0 lead when Christopher Miller scored off a pass from SG Jordan Major off the opening tip, and Ctr Luis Engleton scored off a pass from SF Wesley Harris about 30 seconds later.
Compton pushed its lead to double figures when Christopher Miller hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the first half to make it 23-12. Then Christopher Miller passed the ball to Donta Miller, who had tapped it away for a steal, and Donta scored on a lay-up to make it 25-12 with 8:52 left in the first half.
East LA rallied to tie the score in the final minute of the first half when SG Dushon Carter scored on a give-and-go with Ctr Aaron Cheatum to make it 33-33 with about 20 seconds left. But Christopher Miller scored on a driving lay-up, was fouled and made the resulting free throw with 5.4 seconds left to put Compton back in front, and Donta Miller swiped the ball right back near midcourt and went in for a lay-up just ahead of the buzzer to make it 38-33 in favor of Compton at the half.
When the second half started, Compton quickly pushed its lead back to double figures, with Major going coast-to-coast for a lay-up to make it 48-37. East LA rallied to cut the deficit to four points at 48-44, but Christopher Miller and Mosley hit 3-pointers for Compton to push the lead back to ten points at 54-44. Donta Miller hit a 3-pointer to make it 57-46 with just under 11minutes left in the game, and Major scored on a reverse lay-up about a minute later to make it 59-46. After a steal by Donta Miller PF Andrew Chilton made two free throws with 8:47 left to make it 61-46.
Compton also held a 15-point lead at 66-51 with 7:22 left. After that, East LA started chipping into the deficit again, and got within single digits when Carter made a free throw with 4:21 left to make it 68-59. Engleton also fouled out on the play for Compton. Christopher Miller answered with a 3-pointer for the Tartars, but East LA got a basket from PF Jaree Crawford and a driving lay-up from PG Chris Brown to get the deficit down to seven points at 72-65 with 2:36 to play.
Compton pushed its lead back to 11 points when Harris made two free throws with 2:25 left and hit a pull-up jumper with just under two minutes to go. And the Tartars led 78-67 when Christopher Miller scored off a pass from Donta Miller with just over a minute to go.
But East LA kept battling, helped by Compton missing 6 of 8 free throws in the final minute. Carter scored on a putback to get the Huskies within nine points, and PG Mazen Harris Javier hit a 3-pointer to make it 79-73 with 23.8 seconds left. Carter made one of two free throws with 9.4 seconds left to make it 79-74, and ELAC got the ball back with 5.7 seconds left when Mosley was trapped in the backcourt for a held ball and the arrow pointed in the Huskies favor.
The ball went to Javier, who had already hit 4 three-pointers in the game, outside the left elbow. But as he shot, Donta Miller got a piece of the ball, which landed in the hands of Mosley under the basket. Mosley was fouled with 1.7 seconds left and made one of two free throws to make it 80-74 and close out the scoring.
Christopher Miller led all scorers with his 30 pts, which included 4 three-pointers, and added 6 rebounds. Amazingly, he was the only player for Compton to score in double digits, but all nine players who got in the game for Compton scored at least one field goal. Major had 9 pts, a game-high 5 asts and 3 steals. Harris had 7 pts, 7 rebs, 4 asts and 2 steals. Donta Miler had 7 pts, 3 asts, 4 steals and one big blocked shot. Chilton came off the bench and had 6 pts, 7 rebs and 3 steals.
For East LA, Crawford scored a team-best 18 pts and also tied for team honor with 10 rebs. Javier had a huge game with 14 pts, including 4 three-pointers, while adding 7 rebs, 6 asts and 3 steals. Carter also had a double-double with 13 pts and 10 rebs, while adding 2 asts and 2 steals. PF Zach Hinton came off the bench for 10 pts on 4-for-5 from the floor.
The win improves Comptons conference record to .500 and gets the Tartars within a game of .500 overall at 10-11. East LA falls to 17-7 overall and 6-4 in SCC play.
Box score
Friday, February 8, 2013 7 pm
At Compton College
SCC-North
East LA Huskies 74:
1-Elson Vessel, SF 0/3 fg, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 0 pts
3-Chris Brown, PG 4/8 fg, 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 3 ast, 1 pf, 9 pts
20-Aaron Cheatum, C 2/13 fg, 3/9 ft, 9 reb, 3 ast, 2 pf, 7 pts
22-Jaree Crawford, PF 7/16 fg, 3/5 ft, 10 reb, 2 ast, 3 pf, 18 pts
23-Dushon Carter, SG 5/12 fg, 3/5 ft, 10 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 13 pts
10-Mazen Harris Javier, G 5/9 fg, 7 reb, 6 ast, 3 stl, 4 pf, 14 pts
2-Frankie Aguilar, G 1/6 fg, 1 reb, 2 ast, 2 pf, 3 pts
42-Zach Hinton, F 4/5 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 stl, 2 pf, 10 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 28/72 fg (.389), 12/23 ft (.522), 51 reb, 20 ast, 0 blk, 7 stl, 19 pf, 74 pts
3-pt fg (6): Javier 4, Crawford, Aguilar
Turnovers (18): Brown 7, Carter 3, Vessel 2, Crawford 2, Javier 2, Cheatum, Aguilar
Compton Tartars 80:
2-Matt Mosley, PG 2/10 fg, 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 6 pts
5-Wesley Harris, SF 2/8 fg, 2/3 ft, 7 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 4 pf, 7 pts
10-Jordan Major, SG 4/9 fg, 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl, 2 pf, 9 pts
20-Luis Engleton, C 3/8 fg, 1/2 ft, 5 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 5 pf, 7 pts
24-Christopher Miller, PF 10/19 fg, 6/9 ft, 6 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 30 pts
1-Donta Miller, G 3/5 fg, 0/2 ft, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl, 1 pf, 7 pts
22-Danny Morris, F 2/3 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 pf, 6 pts
33-Andrew Chilton, F 2/3 fg, 2/2 ft, 7 reb, 3 stl, 1 pf, 6 pts
23-Kyle Flournoy, C 1/1 fg, 2 pf, 2 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 29/66 fg (.439), 15/24 ft (.625), 38 reb, 17 ast, 2 blk, 15 stl, 22 pf, 80 pts
3-pt fg (7): C.Miller 4, Mosley, Harris, D.Miller
Fouled Out: Engleton 4:21 left
Turnovers (12): Mosley 4, C.Miller 4, Engleton 2, Major, D.Miller
Halftime Score: Compton 38, East LA 33
Updated Records: Compton 10-11 overall, 5-5 in SCC; East LA (#8-South, #15-Calif) 17-7 overall, 6-4 in SCC
Compton led wire to wire, and led by 13 in the 1st half (25-12) and 15 in the 2nd half (61-46 was the first of several times).
ELAC tied it at 33 with 20 seconds left in the 1st half, and got within 5 with the ball in the final seconds of the 2nd half.
D.Miller blocked a 3-pt try by Javier when it was 79-74 to help preserve the win for Compton.
