Lamarquis Thompson had 15 pts and 11 rebs, and Ashton McLaurin had 14 pts as #14 Mt. San Antonio held off a late rally by #19 Grossmont to post a 76-70 playoff win Wednesday night in Walnut.
Mt. San Antonio (17-10) never trailed, and the Mounties built what appeared to be an insurmountable 17-point lead at 61-44 with 6:30 left in the second half. And it turned out to be insurmountable, but just barely as Grossmont (14-14) got within 3 points in the final seconds before running out of time.
The Mounties took 18-8 lead midway through the first half. Grossmont got back-to-back threes from Corwin Feerick and Kaelen Mitchell to get in the game, and the Griffins tied the score at 25 with 5:51 left in the first half. Grossmont never took the lead, but the score was tied again at 28 and 30 before Gregory Bennett hit a pull-up jumper with about 15 seconds left in the half to give Mt. SAC a 32-30 lead at the break.
Mt. SAC extended its lead to 37-10 when Grossmont missed its first 4 shots of the second half, but the Griffins then rallied to cut the deficit to a single point at 39-38.
But then came a 13-1 Mt. SAC run as the Mounties pushed the lead to 13 points at 52-39 with about 11 minutes to go. Mt. SAC extended its lead to as many as 17 points following a basket by McLaurin with 6:30 left that made it 61-44.
Grossmont cut the deficit to single digits with 2:08 left, and a jumper by LeAndre Powell brought the Griffins within 7 points at 65-58 with 1:45 left.
Then Grossmont coach Doug Weber started playing the foul game. And while Mt. SAC made most of its free throws, it missed enough of them to allow Grossmont to creep ever closer. It was still a 9-point game until Mitchell made a three with 47.3 seconds left. After Jamaal Logan split two free throws for Mt. SAC, Feerick made a pair for Grossmont to make it 70-65 with 45.3 seconds left. Then Logan made two free throws for Mt. SAC, but Mitchell hit another three to bring Grossmont within 4 with 36.9 seconds left. Thompson split two free throws with 35 seconds to play. Marcos Meza scored on a drive for Grossmont to cut the margin to just 3 points at 73-70 with 17.2 seconds to go.
But then Grossmont ran out of time. Thompson again split a pair of free throws, making it 74-70. Grossmont got the ball to Spencer Vering, who had a good look at a 3-pointer from the right corner. But his shot missed, bouncing off the rim into the hands of Mt. SAC's Marquis Reed. He was fouled immediately and made two free throws with 5.2 seconds left, finally clinching the win for the Mounties.
Thompson, recently named SCC-North co-Player of the Year, led Mt. SAC with 15 pts and added 11 rebs, 4 asts and 3 steals. McLaurin scored his 14 pts on 6-for-8 from the floor. Logan came off the bench for 10 pts and 3 asts, and Charlie Evans IV had 9 pts and 5 asts. Reed had 8 pts and tied Thompson for game honors with 11 rebs.
For Grossmont, Mitchell poured in a game-high 27 pts, including 4 three-pointers, and grabbed 4 rebs. Vering had 12 pts and 4 rebs, and Feerick came off the bench for 10 pts, 6 rebs and 3 blocked shots. Meza had 3 pts, a team-high 5 asts and a game-high 4 steals.
With the win, Mt. San Antonio's 8th straight, the Mounties advance to the regional quarterfinal round and will face #3-seed Chaffey Saturday at 7 pm in Rancho Cucamonga.
Grossmont finishes 14-14.
box score
Wednesday, February 24, 2016 - 7 pm
at Mt. San Antonio College, Walnut
Playoffs - Mini-Round
Grossmont Griffins 70:
1-Remy Lawyer, SF - 1/1 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 stl, 5 pf, 4 pts
4-Marcos Meza, PG - 1/1 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 5 ast, 4 stl, 2 pf, 3 pts
5-Daniel McCown, SG - 0/5 fg, 2/2 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 2 pf, 2 pts
15-Spencer Vering, C - 4/9 fg, 4/4 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 4 pf, 12 pts
23-Kaelen Mitchell, PF - 10/23 fg, 3/5 ft, 4 reb, 1 stl, 2 pf, 27 pts
11-Corwin Feerick, F - 3/5 fg, 2/2 ft, 6 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 10 pts
20-Larry Stokes, G - 0/2 fg, 2 ast, 3 pf, 0 pts
24-Luke Jackson, G - 3/4 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 3 pts
25-LeAndre Powell, F - 4/10 fg, 1/2 ft, 5 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 9 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 23/56 fg (.411), 18/23 ft (.783),. 31 reb, 17 ast, 4 blk, 7 stl, 21 pf, 70 pts
3-pt fg (6): Mitchell 4, Feerick 2
Fouled Out: Lawyer 4:44 left
Turnovers (16): Powell 5, Meza 3, Mitchell 3, Lawyer 2, McCown, Vering, Jackson
Mt. San Antonio Mounties 76:
0-Lamarquis Thompson, SF - 5/11 fg, 5/8 ft, 11 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl, 4 pf, 15 pts
3-Marquis Reed, C - 3/11 fg, 2/2 ft, 11 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 1 pf, 8 pts
12-Daniel Olivas, SG - 3/4 fg, 0/1 ft, 1 reb, 2 pf, 9 pts
24-Ashton McLaurin, PF - 6/8 fg, 2/4 ft, 2 reb, 3 pf, 14 pts
32-Charlie Evans IV, PG - 3/6 fg, 1/3 ft, 3 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl, 9 pts
10-Jamaal Logan, G - 1/8 fg, 8/10 ft, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 10 pts
13-Gregory Bennett, F - 4/7 fg, 1/2 ft, 2 reb, 2 pf, 9 pts
4-Jason Varnell Jamie, G - 2 stl, 3 pf, 0 pts
2-Darrell Williams, G - 2 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
1-Sam Bide, F - 2/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 blk, 1 pf, 2 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 25/55 fg (.455), 21/32 ft (.656), 39 reb, 14 ast, 2 blk, 8 stl, 19 pf, 76 pts
3-pt fg (5): Olivas 3, Evans 2
Turnovers (14): Thompson 3, Logan 3, Reed 2, Olivas 2, Jamie, Williams, team 2
Halftime Score: Mt. San Antonio 32, Grossmont 30
Updated Records: Mt. San Antonio (#14-seed) 17-10, Grossmont (#19-seed) 14-14
Mt. SAC led 7-0 early and never trailed, building a 61-44 lead with 6:30 left
Grossmont played the foul game and rallied to within 4 in the final seconds but never quite caught up.
