Rafe King scored 17 pts, including 5 three-pointers, to lead Columbia to a stunning 57-53 comeback win over Diablo Valley in the first round of the Tony Costello Memorial Tournament at Las Positas College Thursday afternoon.
Columbia (1-0) trailed by 17 points early in the second half, but took a 54-53 lead with 1:15 left on the second of King's back-to-back 3-pointers. Ian Merzwinski added 3 free throws in the final 28.3 seconds to clinch the win.
The game was played on even terms early on, with Diablo Valley (0-1) holding a narrow 20-19 lead midway through the first half. King made a pair of three-pointers to that point to keep the Claimjumpers close.
Then Diablo Valley went on a 17-2 run, which bridged the halftime break, to seemingly take control of the game. Olajuwon Garner sparked the run with his 3rd 3-pointers of the game to make it 25-19. A 3-point play by Damion Banford pushed the lead to 30-21. Spencer Clark scored a field goal and then, a little later, split two free throws to make it 33-21 at the half.
Rico Nuno scored in the first minute of the second half, and Joe McNiff drained a 3-pointer to push Diablo Valley's lead to 38-21 just over two minutes into the second half.
But then Columbia started chipping away at the deficit. King made a three and Michael Meserole scored on a driving lay-up to get the margin to single digits at 42-34 with 13:08 left. Marquell Hubbard made a three to get the Claimjumpers within six points at 48-42 with about 7 minutes remaining. Meserole converted a 3-point play with about 4 minutes left to make it 50-45.
Diablo Valley continued to lead until King made one three with 2:02 left to make it 53-51 and another with 1:15 left to give Columbia a 54-53 lead. Garner missed a three for DVC and Merzwinski got the rebound and made two free throws with 28.3 seconds left. Then DVC's Headspeth missed a pair of of threes that would have tied the game. Merzwinski again got the rebound, was fouled and made the first of two free throws to make it 57-53 and clinch the win.
King led Columbia with his 17 pts and he also added 3 rebs and 3 steals. Merzwinski had 11 pts and 6 rebs. And the key to the comeback was the play of Columbia's second-team backcourt of Hubbard, who had 8 pts, 7 rebs and 3 asts, and Meserole, who had 15 pts and 3 asts.
For Diablo Valley, Garner scored a team-high 15 pts on 5 three-pointers and added 3 rebs and 2 steals. Nuno had 11 pts on 5-for-6 from the floor and also had 6 rebs and 3 asts. Headspeth had 4 pts and a game-high 7 asts.
This was the first game of the Tony Costello Memorial tournament, recently renamed to honor the very popular coach who founded the Las Positas basketball program and passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2013. Las Positas also named the floor the Tony Costello Court.
box score
Tony Costello Memorial Tournament
Thursday, November 6, 2014 @ Las Positas College, Livermore
Game 1 – 2 pm
Columbia Claimjumpers 57:
12-Will Collamer, PG – 0/1 fg, 2 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
23-Alex Kiriluk, SG – 1/8 fg, 6 reb, 2 ast, 2 pts
25-Travis Arenas, PF – 2/2 ft, 7 reb, 4 ast, 2 pts
31-Rafe King, SF – 6/13 fg, 0/1 ft, 3 reb, 3 stl, 3 pf, 17 pts
35-Ian Merzwinski, C – 4/4 fg, 3/5 ft, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 pf, 11 pts
3-Marquell Hubbard, G – 2/7 fg, 3/4 ft, 7 reb, 3 ast, 2 pf, 8 pts
4-Reilly Nabors, G – 0 pts
34-Michael Meserole, G – 6/ 12 fg, 1/4 ft, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 15 pts
40-Rosendo Amaya-Wood, C – 1/3 fg, 1 blk, 3 pf, 2 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 20/48 fg (.417), 9/16 ft (.563), 36 reb, 15 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl, 10 pf, 57 pts
3-pt fg (8): King 5, Meserole 2, Hubbard
Turnovers (14): Hubbard 5, Arenas 2, Nabors 2, Amaya-Wood 2, Kiriluk, King, Meserole
Diablo Valley Vikings 53:
10-Jalen Headspeth, PG – 2/9 fg, 3 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl, 1 pf, 4 pts
11-Jelani Hardaway, SF – 2/3 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 5 pts
20-Olajuwon Garner, SG – 5/15 fg, 3 reb, 2 stl, 4 pf, 15 pts
32-Spencer Clark, PF – 1/3 fg, 1/2 ft, 3 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 3 pts
33-Rico Nuno, C – 5/6 fg, 1/2 ft, 6 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 4 pf, 11 pts
23-William Phillips, F – 0/1 fg, 3 reb, 0 pts
21-Joe McNiff, F – 3/7 fg, 2 reb, 1 pf, 8 pts
12-Eric Ellis, G – 0/2 fg, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
24-Jaques Carraway, F – 1/3 fg, 0/1 ft, 1 pf, 2 pts
42-Damion Banford, C – 1/1 fg, 3/3 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 5 pts
team rebounds: 1
Totals: 20/50 fg (.400), 5/8 ft (.625), 28 reb, 17 ast, 1 blk, 6 stl, 17 pf, 53 pts
3-pt fg (8): Garner 5, McNiff 2, Hardaway
Turnovers (12): Hedspeth 4, Garner 2, Banford 2, Hardaway, Clark, Nuno, McNiff
Halftime Score: Diablo Valley 33, Columbia 21
DVC led 38-21 after a 17-2 run that bridged the halftime break.
Columbia took a 54-53 lead with 1:15 left after back-to-back threes by King.
Merzwinski made 3 of 4 FTs in the final 28.3 seconds to clinch the win for Columbia.
