SG Jaylen Bland scored 21 pts and three other players scored in double figures for Canyons, which captured the championship of the 5th Annual Clash At Canyons Tip-Off Event Saturday afternoon in Santa Clarita with a 69-60 win over East LA.
The game was closely contested throughout, and though Canyons (2-0) never trailed after the opening minutes, the Cougars never led by more than nine points and led by just a single point with 1:03 left.
Ctr Aaron Cheatum made a 3-pointer with 1:03 left to bring East LA (1-1) within a point at 61-60. However, during the shot, East LA PF Jaree Crawford was called for a foul under the basket, sending Bland to the line for the Cougars for a one-and-one opportunity.
Bland made two free throws to make it 63-60, and after Cheatum missed a 3-point try for East LA Bland got the rebound and was fouled again. He again made two free throws, making it 65-60 with 36 seconds left.
After an East LA turnover, SF David Horst scored on a fast break off a pass from PG Terrez Scott to make it 67-60. Bland added two more free throws with 7 seconds left to close out the scoring.
In the early going, Canyons held a slim 5-4 lead before an 8-0 spurt pushed the lead to 13-4. East LA rallied to tie the score at 30 after a driving lay-up by SG Dushon Carter with 2:10 left in the first half, but Canyons got two free throws each from Ctr Ronald Harris and Bland to take a 34-30 lead at the break.
Canyons pushed the lead back to nine points at 39-30 after a 3-pointer by SF Tyler Barber just less than two minutes into the second half. But East LA rallied to tie the score at 48 on a steal & lay-up by PG Chris Brown with 11:22 left.
Canyons never allowed East LA to take the lead, and pushed its advantage back to six points at 61-55 with 1:42 left. East LA got a basket from Crawford and the 3-pointer from Cheatum with 1:03 left to get back within a point, but never quite caught up.
Bland, a bounceback from Murray State who played at Cleveland HS in Reseda, led all scorers with 21 pts and added 9 rebs, 3 asts, 6 steals and a blocked shot. Barber had 16 pts, including 3 threes, and Harris had 13 pts and 7 rebs. PF Temjae Singleton, who redshirted at New Mexico State after playing at El Camino Real HS in Woodland Hills, just missed a double-double with 12 pts and 9 rebs.
For East LA, Brown had a team-high 20 pts and added 3 rebs, 3 asts and 2 steals. Cheatum had a double-double with 12 pts and a game-high 11 rebs. Crawford, a transfer from Mt. San Jacinto College, added 10 pts despite sitting out most of the first half with foul trouble.
There were quite a few fouls and lots of turnovers. The turnovers were evenly divided - Canyons had 29 while East LA had 28 - but the fouls were not. East LA was called for 28 of the game's 43 fouls, and as a result Canyons had 38 free throw attempts, making 29, compared to just 8 attempts for the Huskies.
5th Annual Clash At Canyons Tip-Off Event
Saturday, November 10, 2012 @ College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita
Championship Game - 1 pm
East Los Angeles Huskies 60:
1-Elson Vessel, SF - 1/2 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 pts
3-Chris Brown, PG - 9/18 fg, 3 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 20 pts
20-Aaron Cheatum, C - 5/11 fg, 0/2 ft, 11 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk, 2 stl, 4 pf, 12 pts
22-Jaree Crawford, PF - 5/10 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl, 3 pf, 10 pts
23-Dushon Carter, SG - 2/9 fg, 2/2 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 4 pf, 6 pts
32-Michael Foster, F - 1/7 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 5 pf, 2 pts
35-Robert Ponce, F - 0/3 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 0 pts
10-Mazan Harris Javier, G - 0/1 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 3 pf, 1 pt
42-Zach Hinton, C - 3/6 fg, 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl, 4 pf, 7 pts
2-Frankie Aguilar, G - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
24-Brandon Otero, F - 0 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 26/68 fg (.382), 4/8 ft (.500), 38 reb, 15 ast, 3 blk, 15 stl, 28 pf, 60 pts
3-pt fg (4): Brown 2, Cheatum 2
Technical Foul: Foster
Fouled Out: Foster 6:17 left
Turnovers (28): Carter 8, Brown 5, Foster 5, Crawford 4, Javier 3, Cheatum 2, Hinton
Canyons Cougars 69:
5-Jaylen Bland, SG - 2/11 fg, 17/19 ft, 9 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 6 stl, 1 pf, 21 pts
15-Temjae Singleton, PF - 2/10 fg, 7/11 ft, 9 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 2 pf, 12 pts
25-Ronald Harris, C - 5/9 fg, 3/4 ft, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 13 pts
31-Tyler Barber, SF - 6/12 fg, 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 3 blk, 1 stl, 1 pf, 16 pts
34-Jawhar Purdy, PG - 2 reb, 1 stl, 2 pf, 0 pts
44-John Green, C - 0/1 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 blk, 1 pt
30-Terrez Scott, G - 0/3 fg, 2 reb, 7 ast, 4 stl, 3 pf, 0 pts
11-David Horst, F - 3/6 fg, 5 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 1 pf, 6 pts
21-Dalibor Nonkovic, C - 2 pf, 0 pts
35-Rogelio Love, F - 0 pts
10-Sam Colmenero, G - 2 reb, 2 pf, 0 pts
14-Lionel Poole, F - 0 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 18/52 fg (.346), 29/38 ft (.763), 44 reb, 14 ast, 6 blk, 16 stl, 15 pf, 69 pts
3-pt fg (4): Barber 3, Singleton
Technical Foul: Scott
Turnovers (29): Scott 5, Singleton 4, Purdy 4, Bland 3, Harris 3, Nankovic 2, Colmenero 2, Poole 2, Barber, Green, Horst, Love
Halftime Score: Canyons 34, East LA 30
Updated Records: Canyons 2-0, East LA 1-1
Canyons never trailed after the opening minutes, and led by 9 several times.
East LA tied it at 30 and at 48, and trailed 61-60 with 1:03 left.
In the last 1:03 Bland made 6 FTs and Horst scored on a fast break to clinch the win for COC.
