Lamarquis Thompson and Charlie Evans IV each scored 21 pts and Thompson just missed posting a triple-double as Mt. San Antonio outraced visiting Compton Friday in a key SCC-North match-up between two teams on the playoff bubble.
Mt. San Antonio (13-10, 4-1) never trailed in posting its second win of the conference season over Compton (12-11, 2-3), moving into second place in the SCC-North, a half-game behind first-place East Los Angeles, whom the Mounties will play at home next Wednesday.
Friday's game was an up-and-down the court affair, with lots of points, fouls, free throws and turnovers. And it was virtually position-less basketball as every player on both teams - with the probable exception of Mt. SAC's Jamaal Logan, who is a true point guard - answers the description of "basketball player" rather than any specific position.
The result was a most entertaining game to watch, though Mt. SAC never trailed. The Mounties held a 16-point lead at halftime after a buzzer-beating three by Thompson, and led by as many as 19 points in the second half. But the Mounties could never really pull away from the Tartars, who were within 10 points with under a minute left to play.
Mt. SAC jumped out to a 10-2 lead to start the game. Compton rallied to tie the score at 19 with 11:45 left in the first half, but then the Mounties went on a 16-3 run to take a 35-22 lead with 6:10 left in the half. Compton answered with a 10-2 spurt to cut the lead to 5 at 37-32 with 3:46 left in the first half.
Then Mt. SAC started to pull away. A dunk by Logan gave the Mounties an 11-point lead at 43-32. A 3-pointer by Daniel Olivas pushed the margin to 12 at 46-34, and Gregory Bennett followed that with a skywalking one-handed slam dunk that pushed the Mt. SAC lead to 13 at 50-37. Thompson's three as the horn sounded gave Mt. SAC a 53-37 lead at the break.
The second half started with Olivas stealing the Compton inbounds pass and scoring to make it 55-37. The Mounties also led by 18 at 55-37 and 60-42 before Compton cut the margin to ten at 61-51 following a rebound and basket by Khiree Johns with just under 17 minutes still left on the clock.
Mt. SAC pushed its lead back to 15 points on two free throws by Evans with 13:07 left that made it 70-55. By that time both teams were already in the bonus, ensuring that there would be lots of free throws still to come. An Evans three made it 73-57 and a three by Logan pushed the Mounties' lead to 19 points at 77-58 midway through the second half.
Compton battled back, cutting the deficit to 10 points again when Kyvonte Davis made a pair of free throws with 6:27 left. And by that time Mt. SAC was losing players, with Ashton McLaurin and Marquis Reed having already fouled out and Sam Bide, who was having an excellent game, leaving with an ankle injury.
But then Compton lost leading scorer Marquise Harris, who fouled out with 5:27 left. The Tartars got within 8 points after a steal & lay-up by Davis with just under 5 minutes left that made it 81-73, but they would never get any closer.
It was a 9-point game with under two minutes to play when Thompson stole the ball, was fouled and made two free throws to make it 93-82. Then Bennett swatted the ball away for a steal, which led to two more free throws for Thompson to push the lead to 95-82. Despite a 3-pointer from Calvin House with 1:06 left, Compton never got the deficit back to single digits again.
Thompson finished with 21 pts, including 3 threes, plus 10 rebs, 4 asts and 8 steals to fall just short of the triple-double. Evans also had 21 pts, also including 3 threes, and added 4 rebs, 5 asts and 2 steals. Logan came off the bench for 12 pts and a game-high 7 asts, and Bennett came off the bench for 12 pts and 4 rebs. Bide had 11 pts, 8 rebs, 2 asts, 3 blocks and 2 steals before leaving with the ankle injury with 10:57 left.
For Compton, Harris led all scorers with 28 pts, including 5 threes, and also had 5 rebs, 2 asts and 4 steals before fouling out. Davis had 19 pts, 5 rebs, 4 asts and 5 steals. House came off the bench for 12 pts, 7 rebs, 3 asts and 2 steals, and Johns had 11 pts and 8 rebs, and Jamon Bellard came off the bench for 2 pts and a team-high 9 rebs.
box score
Friday, February 5, 2016 - 7 pm
at Mt. San Antonio College. Walnut
South Coast Conference - North Division
Compton Tartars 86:
5-Michael Chavers, SF - 1/10 fg, 4/6 ft, 7 reb, 1 stl, 4 pf, 6 pts
12-Kyvonte Davis, PG - 4/10 fg, 11/15 ft, 5 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 5 stl, 5 pf, 19 pts
13-Khiree Johns, PF - 4/5 fg, 3/3 ft, 8 reb, 4 pf, 11 pts
22-Marquise Harris, SG - 7/16 fg, 9/12 ft, 5 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl, 5 pf, 28 pts
24-Phillip Harris, C - 0/2 fg, 0 pts
2-Calvin House, F - 5/10 fg, 7 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 4 pf, 12 pts
20-Ivan Coe, C - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
10-Alonzo Taylor, G - 1/7 fg, 1/1 ft, 2 reb, 1 ast, 4 pf, 3 pts
11-Ralph Kellum, G - 1/4 fg, 2/2 ft, 1 ast, 4 pf, 5 pts
23-Jamon Bellard, F - 1/4 fg, 9 reb, 2 stl, 1 pf, 2 pts
4-Dominique Miles, G - 1 reb, 1 stl, 1 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 24/69 fg (.391), 30/39 ft (.769), 50 reb, 11 ast, 2 blk, 15 stl, 33 pf, 86 pts
3-pt fg (8): M.Harris 5, House 2, Kellum
Technical Fouls: Bellard, Miles
Fouled Out: M.Harris 5:27 left, Davis 1:45 left
Turnovers (32): M.Harris 9. Davis 7, Chavers 6, House 3, Bellard 3, Johns 2, Taylor, Kellum
Mt. San Antonio Mounties 100:
0-Lamarquis Thompson, SF - 5/9 fg, 8/10 ft, 10 reb, 4 ast, 8 stl, 1 pf, 21 pts
1-Sam Bide, PF - 4/7 fg, 3/5 ft, 8 reb, 2 ast, 3 blk, 2 stl, 4 pf, 11 pts
12-Daniel Olivas, SG - 4/5 fg, 0/1 ft, 2 ast, 3 stl, 3 pf, 12 pts
24-Ashton McLaurin, C - 3/7 fg, 3 reb, 5 pf, 6 pts
32-Charlie Evans IV, PG - 5/9 fg, 8/8 ft, 4 reb, 5 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 2 pf, 21 pts
2-Darrell Williams, G - 0/2 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 pf, 1 pt
3-Marquise Reed, F - 3/6 fg, 0/1 ft, 1 reb, 1 blk, 5 pf, 6 pts
4-Jason Jamie, G - 1 pf, 0 pts
10-Jamaal Logan, G - 4/8 fg, 2/3 ft, 3 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 12 pts
13-Gregory Bennett, F - 4/7 fg, 4/12 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 5 pf, 12 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 32/60 fg (.533), 26/42 ft (.619), 36 reb, 21 ast, 5 blk, 18 stl, 29 pf, 100 pts
3-pt fg (10): Thompson 3, Evans 3, Olivas 2, Logan 2
Technical Foul: Bennett
Fouled Out: McLaurin 10:09 left, Reed 6:27 left, Bennett 48.7 seconds left
Turnovers (24): Olivas 5, Logan 5, Bide 4, Thompson 3, Evans 3, McLaurin 2, Reed, team
Halftime Score: Mt. San Antonio 53, Compton 37
Updated Records: Mt. San Antonio 13-10, 4-1 in SCC-North; Compton 12-11, 2-3 in SCC-North.
Mt. SAC never trailed, taking a 10-2 lead. Compton tied the score at 19 with 11:45 left in the 1st half.
Mt. SAC went on a 16-3 run and led the rest of the way. The largest lead was 19 (77-58).
Compton got within 8 with just under 5 minutes left and trailed by 9 with under 2 mins to go but never got any closer.
