Justin Cobb scored 31 pts, including the game-winning basket following Brandon Jamar's 8th blocked shot of the night as LA Southwest edged Victor Valley, 97-95, in the first round of the 31st Annual Fullerton College tournament.
With the score tied at 95, Victor Valley's James Tonic drove towards the basket, but his lay-up try was rejected by the 6-11 Jamar. And that started a fast break that ended with Damon Horton feeding Cobb for the basket that ended up being the difference in the game.
It was a most entertaining, high-scoring game in which neither team ever led by more than 9 points and the lead changed hands multiple times.
LA Southwest (1-0) trailed most of the game, but tied the game on a pair of free throws by Layon Gooden with 43.6 seconds left. Then Cobb's score gave the Cougars their first lead since midway through the second half, but it ended up being the lead that counted the most.
Victor Valley (2-2) led by 9 at 22-13 in the first half, and held a 51-46 lead at the break. After the lead changed hands several times in the first 10 minutes of the second half, the Rams started to pull away, building a 90-82 lead after a driving lay-up by Kimani Lane withjust over 7 minutes left.
But Victor Valley scored just 5 more points in those 7 minutes, and that allowed LA Southwest to rally as the game wound down.
Following Cobb's basket, the Rams had one last chance but Max Barkeley's step-back 3-pointer in the final minutes bounced off the back rim, and neither team could control the rebound before time expired.
Cobb led the winners with 31 pts, which included 3 three-pointers. Reggie Fields scored 22 pts on an astounding 18-for-22 from the free throw line. And Jamar was outstanding with 16 pts, 15 rebs and 8 blocked shots, including one that not only kept Victor Valley from taking the lead but resulted in LA Southwest getting the win.
For Victor Valley, Barkeley scored a team-high 31 pts, including 7 three-pointers. Lane had 18 pts, 15 in the second half, plus 4 rebs, 3 asts and 3 steals. Tonic had 15 pts while Deshawn Hayes and Stephen Evans had 9 pts each. Adream Hayes had 8 pts and a team-high 10 rebs. Justin Knowles had just 3 pts but dished out a game-high 6 asts.
box score
31st Annual Fullerton College Tournament
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 @ Fullerton College
Day 1 - Game 2 - 7:30 pm
Victor Valley Rams 95:
0-Justin Knowles, PG - 1/3 fg, 0/1 ft, 6 reb, 6 ast, 2 pf, 3 pts
4-James Tonic, SF - 5/14 fg, 3/6 ft, 1 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 15 pts
5-Max Barkeley, SG - 9/19 fg, 6/8 ft, 2 reb, 1 pf, 31 pts
22-Kimani Lane, PF - 7/16 fg, 3/6 fg, 4 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 2 pf, 18 pts
44-Tre Prudhomme, C - 1 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 4 pf, 0 pts
13-Adream Hayes, C - 4/7 fg, 0/2 ft, 10 reb, 2 blk, 1 stl, 4 pf, 8 pts
24-Deshawn Hayes, F - 3/7 fg, 2/4 ft, 7 reb, 2 ast, 3 stl, 4 pf, 9 pts
10-Stephen Evans, G - 1/2 fg, 7/9 ft, 1 reb, 4 ast, 9 pts
15-Trevone Gates, F - 1/1 fg, 1 reb, 2 pf, 2 pts
1-Lance Page, G - 0 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 31/69 fg (.449), 21/36 ft (.583), 37 reb, 16 ast, 3 blk, 10 stl, 22 pf, 95 pts
3-pt fg (12): Barkeley 7, Tonic 2, Knowles, Lane, D.Hayes
Technical Foul: A.Hayes
Turnovers (19): Knowles 4, Barkeley 4, A.Hayes 4, Lane 3, Tonic, Prudhomme, Evans, team
LA Southwest Cougars 97:
1-Justin Cobb, SF - 11/22 fg, 6/8 ft, 2 reb, 31 pts
2-Brian Dotch, PG - 0/1 ft, 3 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl, 4 pf, 0 pts
4-Chris Garcia, SG - 3/9 fg, 3 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 8 pts
35-Reggie Fields, PF - 2/5 fg, 18/22 ft, 6 reb, 2 ast, 3 pf, 22 pts
40-Brandon Jamar, C - 8/16 fg, 15 reb, 1 ast, 8 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 16 pts
10-Antoine Brown, F - 1/3 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 2 pts
3-Layon Gooden, G - 0/2 fg, 4/4 ft, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 4 pts
20-Damon Horton, G - 3/8 fg, 8 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 6 pts
22-Eugene Martin, F - 1/2 fg, 3 reb, 1 pf, 2 pts
42-William Brown, F - 0/1 fg, 1 pf, 0 pts
25-Nick Brown, G - 2/5 fg, 1/2 ft, 3 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 6 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 31/73 fg (.451), 29/37 ft (.784), 53 reb, 20 ast, 9 blk, 8 stl, 24 pf, 97 pts
3-pt fg (6): Cobb 3, Garcia 2, N.Brown
Flagrant Foul: Jamar (FL-1)
Turnovers (20): A.Brown 5, Dotch 4, Gooden 3, Horton 3, Garcia 2, Fields 2, Jamar
Halftime Score: Victor Valley 51, LA Southwest 46
Updated Records: LA Southwest 1-0, Victor Valley 2-2
VVC led by 9 in the 1st half at 22-13 and by 8 at 90-82 with 7 minutes left.
Southwest tied it on 2 FTs by Gooden with 43.6 seconds left.
Jamar blocked a Tonic lay-up and that started a break that ended with Cobb scoring with 21 secs left.
Barkeley missed a step-back 3 in the final seconds for VVC.
