Upset! #19 Santa Monica 80, #3 Antelope Valley 77
#19 seed Santa Monica (20-13) pulled its second upset of the playoff season, building a double-digit lead late in the game and holding off a frantic last-minute rally by host Antelope Valley (29-7) to advance to the regional final.
Fwd Ron Eskridge led the Corsairs with 23 pts and 11 rebs, while SG Marko Mihailovic scored 19 pts and added 5 asts and 7 steals.
And Santa Monica got huge contributions from their center-by-committee: Brian Jolly scored 12 pts and grabbed 7 rebs in the first half while Morgan Smith scored 10 pts in the second half.
But it almost got away when AVC's PG Mike Webb started draining 3-pointers. Webb finished with 22 pts, 20 of those coming in the second half and 14 of those coming in the final minute of play.
Santa Monica had played a solid game to build a 75-63 lead with under a minute to play when the drama began. First, Webb drilled a long 3-pointer to make it 75-66. Then after SMCC inbounded the ball, Mihailovic was fouled. But he missed both FTs, and when AVC came down the floor, Webb drilled another 3-pointer to close the gap to 75-69 with 36.9 secs left.
Then following a timeout, Santa Monica was unable to inbound the ball and turned it over on a 5-second call. Then Webb attempted another 3-pointer that missed, but he was fouled on the play. That gave him 3 FTs, plus it was the 5th foul on Santa Monica PG Eric Jones. Webb made 2 of the 3 FTs to close the gap to 75-71.
On the next inbound, the ball went to Eric Norcross, who was fouled immediately. He made both FTs to make it 77-71.
But Webb wasn't done yet. He brought the ball barely across the half-court line before launching a 30-footer, which swished through the net to make it 77-74 with 25.6 secs left.
And when Santa Monica again failed to inbound the ball within 5 seconds, AVC had its chance to tie the game.
But it wasn't to be. Webb got the ball and his shot was perfectly on target, but short. It bounced off the rim and into the hands of Eskridge, who was fouled. He made both FTs, making it 79-74.
Another Webb miss followed by another Eskridge rebound sent the Corsair back to the line. He made 1 of 2, but by now there were only a few seconds left in the game. Webb drilled a 3-pointer with about 2 seconds left in the game to make it 80-77, and the clock stopped with just a second left. But the officials ruled the clock was stopped inadvertantly and ruled the game was over.
Things had started out well for Antelope Valley when Ctr Jonathan Holland tipped in a Kerry Yates miss in the opening minute to give AVC the game's first points. Santa Monica missed its first 8 shots of the game, allowing AVC to extend its lead to 7-3.
But a 3-pointer by Mihailovic a few minutes later gave Santa Monica a 12-11 lead, and they held the advantage the rest of the night. SMCC led at the half, 32-27.
Several times in the second half AVC closed the gap to 6 or 7 only to see Santa Monica answer and push the lead back into double digits. At one point, Mihailovic had steals on 3 consecutive possessions to help SMCC build what looked to be an insurmountable lead. But the lead turned out to be just barely enough.
AVC was led by Webb's 22 points. Holland led AVC rebounders wtih 6 before fouling out with 4:07 to play. PF Trae Fortier had an excellent game with 19 pts and 5 rebs. SG Sidney Melvin added 11 pts.
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Wednesday, March 5, 2003
at Antelope Valley College, Lancaster
JC Playoffs - 2nd Round
Santa Monica Corsairs 80:
5-Marko Mihailovic, SG - 5/11 fg, 7/10 ft, 1 reb, 5 ast, 1 blk, 7 stl, 19 pts
15-Eric Jones, PG - 0/4 fg, 3/4 ft, 4 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl, 3 pts
14-Eric Norcross, SF - 2/5 fg, 3/4 ft, 5 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 8 pts
32-Ronald Eskridge, PF - 5/9 fg, 13/15 ft, 11 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 23 pts
33-Morgan Smith, C - 3/5 fg, 2/2 ft, 1 reb, 10 pts
21-Bryan Jolly, C/F - 5/7 fg, 4/4 ft, 9 reb, 2 ast, 14 pts
22-Todd Corley, G - 0/3 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 0 pts
24-Raleigh Harper, G - 1/3 fg, 2 reb, 3 pts
4-Bruno Alpay, C - 0 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 21/47 fg (.447), 32/39 ft (.821), 37 reb, 19 ast, 2 blk, 11 stl, 80 pts
3-pt fg (6): Mihailovic 2, Smith 2, Norcross, Harper
Fouled Out: Jones 31.8 left
Turnovers (18): Jones 5, Eskridge 5, Mihailovic 3, Smith 3, Harper 2
Antelope Valley Marauders 77:
3-Trae Fortier, PF - 7/12 fg, 5/5 ft, 5 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 19 pts
5-Kerry Yates, SF - 1/3 fg, 3 pts
15-Sidney Melvin, SG - 3/8 fg, 4/4 ft, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 11 pts
22-Mike Webb, PG - 7/18 fg, 2/3 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 22 pts
34-Jonathan Holland, C - 3/5 fg, 1/2 ft, 6 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl, 7 pts
41-Brandon Murray, C - 1/4 fg, 1/2 ft, 5 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk, 3 pts
33-Idel Dawson, G - 2/4 fg, 5 reb, 2 ast, 5 pts
2-Gabe Stevenson, G - 1/5 fg, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 4 pts
11-Ollie Bradley, F - 1/3 fg, 1/2 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 3 pts
13-Brian Waugh, F - 0/1 fg, 1 ast, 1 stl, 0 pts
21-Anthony Gamboa, G - 1 ast, 0 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 26/63 fg (.413), 14/18 ft (.778), 33 reb, 13 ast, 4 blk, 7 stl, 77 pts
3-pt fg (9): Webb 6, Yates, Melvin, Dawson
Fouled Out: Holland 4:07 left, Fortier 14.9 secs left
Turnovers (15): Yates 3, Bradley 3, Melvin 2, Webb 2, Murray 2, Fortier, Holland, Stevenson
Halftime Score: Santa Monica 32, Antelope Valley 27
Updated Records: Santa Monica 20-13 will face Oxnard in regional final; Antelope Valley 29-7
