PF Kevin Dancer rebounded a missed free throw, scored on the putback and made a free throw to complete a 3-point play with 4.8 seconds left to lift Glendale (12-10, 1-2) to a 76-73 win over visiting #15 Santa Monica (13-8, 0-2) in a pivotal WSC-South game Wednesday night at Vaquero Gym.
Glendale trailed, 73-70, in the final minute after having let a 19-point first-half lead slip away. But a putback basket by Ctr Curtis Leslie with 31.8 seconds left made it 73-72. And after Santa Monica SG Calvin Mitchell missed the front end of a one-and-one with 13.1 seconds left, SF Zareh Zargaryan gathered the rebound and outletted the ball to SG Markus Monroe under the Corsair basket, where he was fouled.
Monroe then went to the free throw line and made the first shot to tie the game at 73 with 6.6 seconds left. He missed the second shot, but Dancer outjumped the Corsairs to grab the rebound and scored on the putback to put Glendale ahead, 75-73. The ensuing free throw made it 76-73. After that, Santa Monica had one last chance to tie the game, but Mitchell's 3-point try at the buzzer bounced off the rim.
With both teams entering the game winless in division play after having strong pre-conference seasons, the game had a must-win feel. And Glendale came out flying, building an 7-0 lead as Santa Monica missed its first 7 shots from the floor. After SF Noah Gottlieb finally got the Corsairs on the board with a 3-pointer, Glendale scored the game's next 11 points to go ahead, 18-3, seven minutes into the game.
Santa Monica cut the margin to 10 at 22-12, but then Glendale went on a 12-3 run to push the lead to 19 at 34-15 after baskets by SG Tyief Thompson and Dancer with just over 5 minutes left before halftime.
As the half wound down, however, Santa Monica chipped away at the lead, closing the gap to 11 at the break after a 3-pointer by Mitchell just ahead of the halftime horn.
When the second half began, Glendale got a pair of 3-pointers from Zargaryan and pushed the lead back to 14 at 49-35.
But then Santa Monica turned things around, gradually chipping away at the Glendale lead. A 3-pointer by Gottlieb cut the margin to single digits at 49-41, and another Gottlieb 3-pointer later cut the margin to 7 at 58-51. Then PG Chris Blackwood scored a traditional 3-point play to make it 58-54. Following a Glendale free throw, PF Carl Kindborg scored on a left-handed hook to make it 59-56. Then SG Ryan Avilez drained a 3-pointer to complete the comeback, tying the game at 59 with just over 8 minutes left.
After that, the lead went back and forth as the clock wound down. After Dancer tied the game at 70 for Glendale, Blackwood scored on a reverse lay-up to put Santa Monica back in front, 72-70. Then, Blackwood grabbed a steal, drew a foul as he went up for the lay-up and made one of two free throw tries to make it 73-70 with 2:01 left.
After that, neither team scored for nearly 90 seconds. Zargaryan's 3-pointer seemed to go halfway into the basket before spinning out, but Leslie grabbed the rebound and scored to make it 73-72 with 31.8 seconds left. Then came Mitchell's missed free throw, Zargaryan's rebound and outlet pass, Monroe's game-tying free throw and Dancer's game-winning putback basket.
For Glendale, Monroe came off the bench but led all scorers with 19 pts. Dancer added 16 pts and tied for team honors with 9 rebs. Thompson had 13 pts and 4 asts, and Zargaryan had 10 pts, 7 rebs and 5 asts. Leslie flirted with a double-double before settling for 9 pts and 9 rebs. PG Jose Garcia had just 4 pts but dished out a game-high 8 asts.
For Santa Monica, five players scored either 12, 13 or 14 points. Blackwood had 14 pts and 4 steals, while Gottlieb had a very strong game with 13 pts, 6 asts and 5 steals. Ctr John Brown and Avilez each had 13 pts and Mitchell had 12.
box score
Wednesday, January 16, 2008 - 7:30 pm
at Vaquero Gym, Glendale
WSC-South
Santa Monica Corsairs 73:
11-Noah Gottlieb, SF - 5/13 fg, 4 reb, 6 ast, 5 stl, 3 pf, 13 pts
12-Chris Blackwood, PG - 5/11 fg, 3/5 ft, 5 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl, 14 pts
14-Calvin Mitchell, SG - 5/13 fg, 0/1 ft, 1 reb, 3 ast, 12 pts
21-Arthur Braswell, PF - 2/5 fg, 0/2 ft, 11 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 slt, 4 pf, 4 pts
54-John Brown, C - 6/10 fg, 1/3 ft, 5 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 4 pf, 13 pts
24-Ryan Avilez, G - 4/11 fg, 2/2 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 pf, 13 pts
33-Carl Kindborg, F - 1/8 fg, 2/2 ft, 7 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 4 pts
10-Avery Martin, G - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
35-Mactar Gueye, F - 0/1 fg, 1 stl, 1 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 28/73 fg (.384), 8/15 ft (.533), 41 reb, 17 ats, 2 blk, 14 stl, 18 pf, 73 pts
3-pt fg (9): Gottlieb 3, Avilez 3, Mitchell 2, Blackwood
Turnovers (12): Blackwood 4, Gottlieb 2, Mitchell 2, Browon 2, Braswell, Kindborg
Glendale Vaqueros 76:
20-Tyief Thompson, SG - 6/11 fg, 1 reb, 4 ast, 1 pf, 13 pts
21-Jose Garcia, PG - 2/3 fg, 2 reb, 8 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 4 pts
32-Zareh Zargaryan, SF - 4/15 fg, 7 reb, 5 ast, 1 blk, 3 pf, 10 pts
35-Kevin Dancer, PF - 6/11 fg, 3/4 ft, 9 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 16 pts
42-Curtis Leslie, C - 3/4 fg, 3/4 ft, 9 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 9 pts
22-Markus Monroe, G - 6/12 fg, 4/6 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 pf, 19 pts
30-Tulio Yamasita, F - 1/2 fg, 1/2 ft, 5 reb, 1 blk, 3 pts
11-Lanval Gordon, G - 1/1 fg, 1 reb, 2 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 29/59 fg (.492), 11/16 ft (.688), 42 reb, 21 ast, 3 blk, 4 stl, 14 pf, 76 pts
3-pt fg (7): Monroe 3, Zargaryan 2, Thompson, Dancer
Turnovers (18): Zargaryan 5, Garcia 3, Yamasita 3, Dancer 2, Leslie 2, Gordon 2, Monroe
Halftime Score: Glendale 39, Santa Monica 28
Updated Records: Glendale 12-10, 1-2 in WSC-S; Santa Monica (#15-South) 13-8, 0-2 in WSC-S
Glendale led 18-3 and 34-15 in the first half. Santa Monica tied it at 62 and led 73-70 in the last minute. Dancer rebounded a missed FT, scored on the putback, drew a foul and made the free throw with 4.8 seconds left for the winning points.
