Joseph Campos scored 22 pts, making 6 three-pointers, and Craig Owens scored 20 as West Los Angeles pulled away in the second half from host College of the Canyons in a WSC-South game Wednesday in Santa Clarita.
West LA (9-7, 2-3) stayed alive in the WSC-South race with the win, but the Wildcats found themselves trailing most of the first half and into the second. Canyons (5-12, 0-5) led by 7 points early on and by 5 at 43-38 early in the second half.
But then the Wildcats went on a 17-2 run to take a 55-45 lead, and the undermanned Cougars had no answer. The lead was still just 10 until the final 8:28 but after that West LA dominated and ended up winning going away.
Early on, Canyons took an 11-4 lead. West LA rallied to take a 14-13 lead and the advantage changed hands several times before Canyons went back in front by 5 points at 26-21 after a 3-pointer by Victor Nwaba and a short jumper by Jalen Ewell.
West LA closed the gap to a single point after Over Tomakili made a pair of free throws with the clock at zeroes at the end of the first half. That cut Canyons' lead to 34-33 at the break.
And when the second half started, Canyons pushed its lead back to 5 points after a fast-break basket by James Chevious that gave the Cougars a 43-38 lead.
Then came the 17-2 run, and Canyons never recovered. Owens gave West LA a 44-43 lead with just over 16 minutes to go, and the Wildcats led the rest of the way. Owens followed that with a steal & lay-up, and four free throws by Marvin Butler made it 52-45. A three by Campos pushed West LA's lead to 55-45 with 11:37 to play.
The West LA lead never exceeded 10 points until Malek Hijazi split two free throws with 8:28 left to make it 61-50, but then the Wildcats ran away. Tuwuan Cargill scored on a putback to make it 63-51. Campos pushed the lead to 14 with a 3-pointer, and then a Butler steal led to a basket by Owens that pushed made it 71-55 with 5:02 left. A blocked shot by Tomakili led to a lay-up by Owens. A short jumper by Owens pushed the West LA lead to 20 points at 76-56 with 3:53 left.
For West LA, Campos scored a game-high 22 pts on just 8 shot attempts, making 7, 6 of them 3-pointers. Owens had 20 pts and 7 rebs, and Cargill had a double-double with 11 pts and 10 rebs. Amazingly, West LA had 15 assists from 9 different players, but nobody had more than 2.
For Canyons, Ewell had 16 pts, 9 rebs and 3 blocked shots, and Chevious came off the bench for 16 pts, 7 rebs, 3 asts and a steal. Nwaba had 14 pts, 7 rebs and 3 asts. Harrison Haynes had 3 pts and a game-high 5 asts.
box score
Wednesday, January 30, 2016 - 7 pm
at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita
WSC-South
West LA Wildcats 88:
2-Joseph Campos, PG - 7/8 fg, 2/2 ft, 2 reb, 1 stl, 2 pf, 22 pts
10-Craig Owens, PF - 9/18 fg, 0/1 ft, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 20 pts
12-Kervens Cadet, SG - 2/4 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 4 pts
15-Marty Hestor, SF - 0/3 fg, 0/2 ft, 3 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 1 pf, 0 pts
23-Tuwuan Cargill, C - 5/7 fg, 1/2 ft, 10 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 11 pts
25-Tyler Dukes, G - 4/10 fg, 0/1 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 8 pts
5-Bryon Flournoy, G - 1/3 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 4 pf, 3 pts
11-Anthony Gilmer, F - 0/3 fg, 2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 pf, 0 pts
3-Ovie Tomakili, C - 0/4 fg, 3/4 ft, 2 reb, 1 blk, 2 stl, 3 pf, 3 pts
14-Isiah Price, G - 2/5 fg, 2/2 ft, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 7 pts
0-Marvin Butler, G - 0/4 fg, 6/6 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 6 pts
1-Malek Hijazi, F - 1/3 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 4 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 31/72 fg (.431), 17/24 ft (.708), 41 reb, 15 ast, 6 blk, 15 stl, 20 pf, 88 pts
3-pt fg (9): Campos 6, Owens 2, Price
Turnovers (12): Owen 5, Cargill 4, Campos, Cadet, Hestor
Canyons Cougars 65:
14-Jalen Ewell, PF - 7/15 fg, 2/7 ft, 9 reb, 2 ast, 3 blk, 3 pf, 16 pts
20-Harrison Haynes, PG - 1/2 fg, 1/2 ft, 2 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 3 pts
24-Alex Sanchez, SF - 3/8 fg, 0/1 ft, 4 reb, 3 ast, 3 pf, 8 pts
30-Victor Nwaba, SG - 6/15 fg, 1/6 ft, 7 reb, 4 ast, 4 pf, 14 pts
44-Caden Bradley, C - 4/6 fg, 6 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 pf, 8 pts
11-Jacob Tobon, G - 0/2 fg, 1 pf, 0 pts
15-James Chevious, F - 7/12 fg, 1/3 ft, 7 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 16 pts
42-Austin Greenly, C - 2 reb, 2 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 9
Totals: 28/60 fg (.467), 5/19 ft (.263), 46 reb, 19 ast, 3 blk, 4 stl, 19 pf, 65 pts
3-pt fg (4): Sanchez 2, Nwaba, Chevious
Turnovers (23): Nwaba 6, Ewell 4, Haynes 4, Chevious 4, Sanchez 2, Tobon 2, Bradley
Halftime Score: Canyons 34, West LA 33
Updated Records: West LA 9-7, 2-3 in WSC-S; Canyons 5-12, 0-5 in WSC-S
COC led by 7 at 11-4 early and by 5 at 26-21 in the 1st half and 43-38 early in the 2nd.
West LA went on a 17-2 run to lead 55-45 with 11:37 left and pulled further away as the clock wound down.
