The College of the Canyons bested Cuesta in a battle of the Cougars by making all the key plays down the stretch in their 67-63 win at Valencia. PF Ricardo Suazo led the way with 21 pts, 11 rebs, 4 asts and 3 steals.
But even more than the numbers, Suazo’s performance got COC the win. His rebound and FTs with 35 secs left gave Canyons a 64-63 lead, and his steal 18 secs later helped seal the deal. SG Matt Nelsen, who finished with 14 pts, nailed 2 FTs with 4 secs left to clinch the win for Canyons. SF Dax Grooms had 14 pts and 8 rebs for Canyons. The win was the first home win for COC since thier season-opener on November 9th and raises their overall record to 10-12.
Cuesta took a short-lived lead on a 6-foot fallaway jumper by C Martin Rajniak with 52 secs left. But Cuesta committed 2 turnovers in the final 20 secs, fumbling away any chance they had for the win.
Cuesta overcame an 11-point lead early in the 2nd half and trailed by 4 at halftime. Rajniak led Cuesta with 18 pts and added 5 rebs and 4 asts. Cuesta also got strong performances off the bench from forwards Samuel Cook (13 pts, 8 rebs) and Avery Oliver (11 pts, 6 rebs, 3 blks). With the loss Cuesta falls to 14-11.
Unofficial Box Score:
Wednesday, January 23, 2002
at the Cougar Cage (COC), Valencia, CA
Western State Conference
Cuesta Cougars 63:
10-Glenn Jones, SG – 1/ 4 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 2 pts
12-Jeff Kachel, PG – 2/6 fg, 3 reb, 5 ast, 2 stl, 6 pts
32-Martin Rajniak, C – 7/14 fg, 2/2 ft, 5 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 18 pts
33-Bruno Pelembe, PF – 2/5 fg, 1/ 2 ft, 3 reb, 5 pts
44-Jeff Kuhn, SF – 1/5 fg, 6 reb, 2 pts
22-Nick Humphrey, G – 2/6 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 4 ast, 6 pts
34-Samuel Cook, F – 6/9 fg, 8 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 13 pts
42-Avery Oliver, F – 4/8 fg, 3/ 4 ft, 6 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk 1 stl, 11 pts
20-Anthony Khoo, G – 0/1 fg, 1 ast, 0 pts
40-Ezekiel Ocansey, F – 0/1 fg, 1 blk, 0 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 25/59 fg (.424), 40 reb, 19 ast, 6 blk, 5 stl, 63 pts
3-pt fg (5): Kachel 2, Rajniak 2, Cook
Turnovers (18): Kachel 5, Rajniak 5, Humphrey 3, Oliver 3, Jones, Ocansey
Canyons Cougars 67:
12-Murat Yildiz, PG – 3/7 fg, 2/4 ft, 2 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl, 8 pts
23-Matt Nelsen, SG – 5/22 fg, 4/5 ft, 4 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 14 pts
32-Dax Grooms, SF – 6/19 fg, 1/3 ft, 8 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl, 14 pts
33-Ricardo Suazo, PF – 9/12 fg, 3/6 ft, 11 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl, 21 pts
42-David Hungerford, C – 2/4 fg, 3/ 4 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl, 7 pts
30-Carlos Escoto, F – 1/ 4 fg, 4 reb, 1 stl, 3 pts
40-Krishna Evans, C – 0/1 ft, 0 pts
11-DeWayne Taylor, G – 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 2 ast, 0 pts
team rebounds: 8
Totals: 26/69 fg (.377), 13/23 ft (.565), 42 reb, 19 ast, 4 blk, 9 stl, 67 pts
3-pt fg (2): Grooms, Escoto
Turnovers (11): Yildiz 3, Grooms 3, Suazo 2, Escoto, Taylor, team
Halftime Score: Canyons 34, Cuesta 30
Updated Records: Canyons 10-12, Cuesta 14-11
The Final Minute: Rajniak’s fall-away 6-footer gave Cuesta a 63-62 lead with 52 secs left. COC’s Suazo rebounded a Grooms miss and was fouled with 35 secs left. He made both FTs to give COC a 64-63 lead. Cuesta called timeout. On the ensuing possession, Humphrey’s pass was stolen by Suazo with 17 secs left. Canyons called timeout. On the restart, Yildiz got the ball and was fouled. He made 1-2 FTs to make it 65-63 with 14 secs left. On the next possession, Kachel missed connections on a pass and threw the ball out of bounds with 6 secs left. The ball was inbounded to Nelsen, who was fouled with 4 secs left. He made 2-2 FTs to make it 67-63. A half-court attempted three by Kachel missed at the buzzer.
