Ricardo Greaves scored 21 pts, but it was reserves Brodric Smith and Chance Cole who made several key plays in the final ten seconds to allow #15 Canyons to hold on for a 76-74 win over #14 Bakersfield Saturday afternoon in Santa Clarita.
With Canyons (11-8, 3-3) holding a slim 71-70 lead, Bakersfield had the ball as the clock approached the 10-second mark. Renegade point guard Jameik Riviere drove towards the free throw line and tried to pass the ball into the post. But Cole deflected the pass into the hands of teammate Smith, who was fouled immediately and went to the free throw line with 8.5 seconds left.
That the third-string Smith was in the game at all in the key final seconds was a desperate situation for Canyons; starting point guard Coley Apsay was unavailable after a head injury early in the second half, and back-up Riley Honaker had fouled out with 6:23 left. But Smith swished both free throws to make it 73-70.
Bakersfield still had time to attempt a game-tying 3-pointer, but Canyons coach Howard Fisher had no intention of allowing that to happen and Riviere was fouled near midcourt before he could attempt a shot. He made two free throws with 4.6 seconds left to make it 73-72. Then Canyons inbounded the ball to Smith, who was fouled with 3.6 seconds to go. Once again, he made two free throws to give Canyons a 75-72 lead.
After a few timeouts - each team had 3 timeouts remaining before all of this, and only one of them went unused - Bakersfield again got the ball inbounds to Riviere. And once again, COC fouled him before he could attempt a game-tying shot. He went to the free throw line and made the first attempt to make it 75-73. He tried to miss the second, but his line-drive skimmed off the top of the front rim, hit the back board and went in to make it 75-74.
After two more timeouts, Canyons inbounded the ball to Cole, who was fouled with 0.3 seconds left. He made the first free throw to make it 76-74. He tried to miss the second; that much was successful, but he also missed the rim, giving Bakersfield the ball to inbound on the baseline. C.J. Johnson threw it in to Alex Daniels near the far free throw line, but time ran out before he could get a final shot away, allowing Canyons to finally escape with the win.
Before all of that - the last 8.5 seconds took about 15 minutes of real time to play - it was a very competitive game with neither team ever really building an advantage. The main drama was whether COC would find enough point guards to finish the game after Apsay's injury, Honaker's foul-out and Smith picking up his 4th foul as well.
Canyons scored the game's first five points and led, 13-5, a few minutes into the game. But then Bakersfield went on an 18-5 run to take a 23-18 lead with just less than 9 minutes left in the first half. Canyons answered with a 6-0 spurt to take a 24-23 lead with 3:46 left in the half. The lead went back and forth the rest of the half before Victor Nwaba spun through the lane and scored about 15 seconds before halftime to give the Cougars a 31-29 lead at the break.
COC held a 36-35 lead just over two minutes into the second half when Apsay brought the ball towards the center line. Demontrey Mitchell was guarding him, and he swatted the ball away. In the scramble for the loose ball, Apsay fell over Mitchell and hit his head either on the floor or on Mitchell, and Isaiah Bryant of Bakersfield ended up with the ball. Bryant took the ball in for the lay-up, scored and was fouled by COC's Brenden Otero. It was Otero's 4th foul of the game, and there was still 17:37 left to play. Bryant made the free throw to make it 38-36.
Canyons was now without its starting point guard and starting center, but Honaker, subbing for Apsay, passed to Tullio Parry for a basket off an inbounds play and then scored himself after a steal near midcourt to give the Cougars a 40-39 lead. Riviere scored on a reverse lay-up for Bakersfield, and the lead continued to go back and forth for the next few minutes.
With the game tied at 50, Parry drained a three to give Canyons a lead it would, remarkably, hold for the rest of the game. That was with about 9 minutes to go. Amazingly that lead was always between one and four points as the teams basically traded baskets, until Cole made a pair of free throws with 2:29 left to give Canyons a 71-66 lead.
By that time, Honaker had long since fouled out. And Bakersfield got a free throw from Riviere with 2:08 left, with Smith picking up his 4th foul on the play. Riviere again split two free throws with 1:11 left to make it 71-68. Daniels scored on a putback of his own miss with 35.6 seconds left to make it 71-70. And when Parry missed a shot with the ball going out of bounds to Bakersfield with 22.7 seconds remaining, the stage was set for the most dramatic - and elongated - finish.
For Canyons, Greaves scored a team-high 21 pts and grabbed 6 rebs. Nwaba had 15 pts, 4 rebs and 4 asts, and Parry had 13 pts, 7 rebs, 4 asts and 2 steals. Of the key reserves, Honaker had 4 pts, 2 rebs, 2 asts and 2 steals, and Smith had 8 pts, 4 asts and no turnovers. Cole had 9 pts, 2 rebs and 2 steals.
For Bakersfield, Riviere led all scorers with 25 pts, and he also had 3 rebs, 2 asts and 3 steals. Deandre Dickson had 10 pts, 4 rebs and 2 asts limited action, returning from an injury that had caused him to sit out Bakersfield's loss to Glendale on Wednesday. Bryant came off the bench for 11 pts, including a pair of three-pointers.
The win lifts COC's record to 3-3 in conference, keeping the Cougars tied for third place behind unbeaten Antelope Valley and a game behind second-place Citrus. Bakersfield falls to 2-4 and is now tied for 5th with LA Valley and Santa Monica.
box score
Saturday, January 24, 2015 - 3 pm
at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita
WSC-South
Bakersfield Renegades 74:
1-Jameik Riviere, PG - 6/9 fg, 11/15 ft, 3 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl, 4 pf, 25 pts
11-Demontrey Mitchell, SG - 3/6 fg, 1 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 6 pts
22-Isaiah Rogers, SF - 1/2 fg, 0/1 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 3 pf, 2 pts
25-Alex Daniels, PF - 2/6 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 4 pts
30-Sky Seay, C - 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 1 blk, 2 pf, 1 pt
23-Deandre Dickson, C - 4/9 fg, 2/4 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 5 pf, 10 pts
10-Gary Dysart, G - 2/2 ft, 1 stl, 2 pts
34-David Wooley, F - 1/1 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 2 pts
42-Austin Welch, G - 0/1 fg, 2/3 ft, 1 reb, 1 stl, 2 pf, 2 pts
33-Isaiah Bryant, G - 3/7 fg, 3/3 ft, 2 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 11 pts
40-C.J. Johnson, F - 3/5 fg, 3/4 ft, 4 reb, 1 stl, 2 pf, 9 pts
21-David Wilson, G - 0/2 fg, 1 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 23/48 fg (.479), 24/34 ft (.706), 30 reb, 13 ast, 4 blk, 9 stl, 27 pf, 74 pts
3-pt fg (4): Riviere 2, Bryant 2
Fouled Out: Dickson 8.5 seconds left
Turnovers (19): Riviere 6, Dickson 4, Mitchell 3, Rogers, Daniels, Welch, Bryant, Johnson, Wilson
Canyons Cougars 76:
10-Coley Apsay, PG - 2 reb, 2 ast, 2 pf, 0 pts
31-Victor Nwaba, SG - 6/12 fg, 3/5 ft, 4 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 5 pf, 15 pts
34-Tullio Parry, SF - 4/10 fg, 3/4 ft, 7 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 13 pts
41-Brenden Otero, C - 3/4 fg, 3 reb, 1 blk, 4 pf, 6 pts
44-Ricardo Greaves, PF - 9/16 fg, 2/3 ft, 6 reb, 1 blk, 2 stl, 3 pf, 21 pts
20-Riley Honaker, G - 2/5 fg, 0/1 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 5 pf, 4 pts
15-Brodric Smith, G - 1/3 fg, 6/9 ft, 2 reb, 4 ast, 4 pf, 8 pts
24-Chance Cole, F - 1/6 fg, 7/10 ft, 2 reb, 2 stl, 9 pts
30-Garrett Mike, G - 1 ast, 0 pts
14-Jalen Ewell, F - 0/1 fg, 1 ast, 0 pts
team rebounds: 9
Totals: 26/57 fg (.456), 21/32 ft (.656), 37 reb, 18 ast, 2 blk, 9 stl, 25 pf, 76 pts
3-pt fg (3): Parry 2, Greaves
Fouled Out: Honaker 6:23 left, Nwaba 1.4 seconds left
Turnovers (17): Honaker 6, Nwaba 3, Greaves 3, Apsay 2, Parry, Otero, Cole
Halftime Score: Canyons 31, Bakersfield 29
Updated Records: Canyons (#15-South) 11-8, 3-3 in WSC-S; Bakersfield (#14-South) 12-8, 2-4 in WSC-S
Parry broke a 50-all tie with a three with about 9 mins left; COC led the rest of the way.
BC had the ball with COC holding a 71-70 lead with about 10 secs left when Cole deflected a pass for a steal.
Smith made 4 FTs and Cole made 1 in the last 8.5 secs to help COC hold on.
