San Diego Mesa saw most of a 17-point halftime lead slip away, but thanks to 3 offensive rebounds in the final minute-plus, the Olympians held on for a 66-58 win over host Fullerton in the first round of the 31st Annual Fullerton College tournament Wednesday evening.
Mesa (1-2) shot 60% in the first half to build a 40-26 lead at the break, and pushed that advantage to 17 points after Novian Cherry scored off a back-door cut early in the second half to make it 45-28.
But then Fullerton (1-3) battled back, getting back in the game behind the strong defense of twin towers Adam Johnson and Isaiah Clark. A steal & lay-up by Kristopher Nelson cut the deficit to single digits at 48-39 with about 12 minutes left. Two free throws by Nelson following another steal made it a 7-point game at 52-45 with 9:37 remaining. Jake McCloskey scored off a pass from Clark to make it 52-47 with 9:07 left. A 3-pointer by Nate Estrada brought the Hornets within four at 54-50 with 7 minutes left. Two free throws by Estrada following a steal cut the margin to just 3 points at 57-54 with 4:25 remaining.
That, however, would be as close as Fullerton would get. It was still a 3-point game at 61-58 when Cherry scored on a putback with about 2 minutes left. Then on Mesa's next trip down the floor, Jalen Jordan was fouled and went to the free throw line with 1:27 left.
Jordan made the first free throw to make it 64-58. He missed the second, but Kaleb Palmer got the rebound to retain possession for Mesa. About 30 seconds later Jordan tried a jumper and missed, but Shamoree Strawn garnered the rebound for Mesa to again keep the ball. Another 30 seconds later Jean-Luc Williams tried a shot and missed, but once again Mesa kept possession when Palmer grabbed yet another offensive rebounds. Finally, Fullerton fouled Jordan with 13.4 seconds left, but he made two free throws to make it 66-58 and seal the first win of the season for Mesa.
Cherry led all scorers with 16 pts, though that is below his average of 21.9 pts per game last season. He also had 7 rebs, 2 asts and a steal. Jordan had 14 pts, 3 asts and 3 steals, and DeJuan Owens scored 10 pts. Strawn had 8 pts and a game-high 9 rebs.
For Fullerton, Estrada scored a team-best 14 pts, and he also grabbed a team-high 7 rebs. Nelson had 10 pts, a game-high 6 asts and a team-high 3 steals. Ryan Magee came off the bench for 11 pts. Johnson had a very impressive game with 6 pts, 6 rebs and 6 blocked shots.
box score
31st Annual Fullerton College Tournament
Wednesday, November 12, 2014 @ Fullerton College
Day 1 - Game 1 - 5:30 pm
SD Mesa Olympians 66:
0-Novian Cherry, SG - 6/15 fg, 4/8 ft, 7 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 16 pts
5-Jalen Jordan, PG - 5/9 fg, 3/4 ft, 1 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 2 pf, 14 pts
11-DeJuan Owens, SF - 4/10 fg, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 2 pf, 10 pts
20-Shamoree Strawn, PF - 4/4 fg, 9 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 3 pf, 8 pts
30-Kaleb Palmer, C - 2/5 fg, 5 reb, 1 blk, 3 stl, 1 pf, 4 pts
3-Jean-Luc Williams, G - 2/3 fg, 1 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 4 pts
22-J.J. Coleman, F - 2/5 fg, 3/3 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 pf, 8 pts
24-Darian Huber, C - 1/3 fg, 1 reb, 2 pts
team rebounds: 7
Totals: 26/54 fg (.481), 10/15 ft (.667), 37 reb, 17 ast, 3 blk, 10 stl, 14 pf, 66 pts
3-pt fg (4): Owens 2, Jordan, Coleman
Turnovers (14): Owens 5, Jordan 4, Strawn 2, Cherry, Coleman, Huber
Fullerton Hornets 58:
1-Nate Estrada, SF - 4/12 fg, 5/5 ft, 7 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 14 pts
2-Carl Sanford, SG - 0/4 fg, 3/4 ft, 4 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 1 pf, 3 pts
5-Kristopher Nelson, PG - 4/16 fg, 2/2 ft, 2 reb, 6 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl, 1 pf, 10 pts
11-Adam Johnson, C - 2/3 fg, 2/4 ft, 6 reb, 6 blk, 2 pf, 6 pts
21-Jake McCloskey, PF - 3/6 fg, 2/3 ft, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 9 pts
4-Austyn Thompson, G - 1/4 fg, 1 ast, 3 pts
23-Ryan Magee, F - 5/10 fg, 1/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 11 pts
0-Jaylen Morgan, F - 0/1 fg, 2 ast, 0 pts
24-Mo Habbal, G - 0 pts
25-Isaiah Clark, C - 1/3 fg, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 pf, 2 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 20/59 fg (.339), 15/20 ft (.750), 34 reb, 15 ast, 8 blk, 7 stl, 9 pf, 58 pts
3-pt fg (3): Estrada, McCloskey, Thompson
Turnovers (13): Estrada 5, Magee 3, Nelson 2, Sanford, McCloskey, Thompson
Halftime Score: SD Mesa 40, Fullerton 26
Updated Records: SD Mesa 1-2, Fullerton 1-3
SD Mesa shot 60% on FGs in the 1st half and led by 17 at 45-28 early in the 2nd half.
Fullerton got within 3 at 57-54 with 4:25 remaining but never got any closer.
Mesa had 3 offensive rebounds in the final 1:27 to keep Fullerton from getting the ball.
