PG Antonio Biglow had 21 pts and SF Laquenten Jones had a double-double as #6 Mt. San Antonio (11-2) avenged an 18-point loss two weeks ago with a 92-87 win over #2 Citrus (10-2) in the 3rd place game of the 40th Annual Riverside Holiday Tournament December 12th.
In a high-energy game, Mt. SAC rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit behind Jones, and made the plays in the final minutes to come away with the win, a marked contrast to the championship game of the Citrus tournament November 29th in which the Owls led wire to wire.
Mt. SAC started the game well, jumping out to a 9-2 lead in the early moments. Citrus rallied to tie it 9-9, and it was tied again at 13-13, but then Mt. SAC started to build a lead. A 3-pointer by Biglow made it 21-15, a traditional 3-point play by SF Demarkus Isom-Jones made it 26-18, and a 3-point basket by SG Rashad Bias made it 32-23.
Citrus rallied to tie the game, 38-38, on a putback basket by SG Jose Rivera in the final minute of the first half, and then went on front when Rivera converted the 3-point play with 27.9 seconds left. That gave the Owls a 1-point lead at the break.
The lead changed hands several times early in the second half, but then Rivera hit a 3-pointer to give Citrus a 56-51 lead. Then PG Donnel Phifer grabbed a steal and went in for the lay-up to make it 58-51, and followed that with a darting lay-up through the middle to make it 60-51. The Owl advantage reached 10 points after a jumper by PF Keith Thompson made it 72-62 with 9:05 left, and stayed there as the clock passed the 7-minute mark at 76-66.
Mt. SAC rallied, getting within 3 points at 78-75 after SF Kane Robinson scored on a fast break with 4:59 left. Citrus maintained a narrow advantage until PF Dontay Sanford scored following a steal by Jones with under two minutes left, giving the Mounties an 85-84 lead.
PF DeAndre Haskins scored inside to put Citrus back on top, 86-85, but that would be the final Owl lead of the day. Jones scored inside with 1:05 left to give Mt. SAC an 87-86 lead. Then a 3-point play by Biglow after a steal by Ctr Kaimyn Pruitt gave Mt. SAC a 90-86 lead with 44.6 seconds left.
Citrus got a free throw from PG Hakeem Washington with 16.4 seconds left to make it a one-possession game at 90-87, but the Owls had no choice but to foul. Pruitt made a free throw with 15.4 seconds left for Mt. SAC to make it 91-87. Citrus' Rivera missed a 3-point try moments later and two Owls collided trying for the rebound, turning the ball back over to Mt. SAC with 5.2 seconds left. One more free throw by Biglow closed out the scoring.
For Mt. SAC, Biglow led all scorers with 21 pt, and he also had 4 asts. Jones had a most productive game with 13 pts, 10 asts and 6 steals. Isom-Jones came off the bench for 18 pts and Bias had 15 pts on 5-for-5 from the floor. Pruitt just missed a double-double with 9 pts and a game-high 10 rebs.
For Citrus, Rivera had team-highs of 15 pts, including 3 threes, and 6 asts. PF Cameron Nettles had 13 pts and Haskins had 10 pts despite foul trouble.
box score
40th Annual Riverside Holiday Tournament
Saturday, December 12, 2009 @ Wheelock Gym, Riverside
3rd Place Game - 5 pm
Citrus Owls 87:
15-Jose Rivera, SG - 5/15 fg, 2/3 ft, 4 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl, 15 pts
20-Randy Hunter, C - 2/7 fg, 3/5 ft, 6 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk, 1 pf, 7 pts
23-Derrick Rodgers, PG - 1/4 fg, 1 ast, 2 pf, 2 pts
32-Darin Stewart, SF - 2/5 fg, 2/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 blk, 2 pf, 8 pts
45-Keith Thompson, PF - 3/6 fg, 4 reb, 1 blk, 2 stl, 5 pf, 7 pts
5-Jerry Santos, G - 1/6 fg, 5 reb, 1 pf, 2 pts
12-Hakeem Washington, G - 2/5 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 4 pf, 5 pts
14-Cameron Nettles, F - 6/9 fg, 1/1 ft, 6 reb, 1 stl, 3 pf, 13 pts
40-Cameron Khoury, C - 2/6 fg, 2/3 ft, 7 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 1 pf, 6 pts
3-DeAndre Haskins, F - 4/6 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 5 pf, 10 pts
50-Tom Granado, C - 3/5 fg, 0/1 ft, 6 reb, 1 blk, 3 pf, 6 pts
10-Donnel Phifer, G - 2/2 fg, 2/2 ft, 4 ast, 2 stl, 1 pf, 6 pts
team rebounds: 2
Totals: 33/76 fg (.434), 15/21 ft (.714), 45 reb, 15 ast, 6 blk, 8 stl, 28 pf, 87 pts
3-pt fg (6): Rivera 3, Stewart 2, Thompson
Fouled Out: Thompson 44.6 seconds left, Haskins 23.0 seconds left
Turnovers (20): Haskins 5, Thompson 4, Rivera 3, Stewart 2, Hunter, Rodgers, Washington, Nettles, Khoury, Phifer
Mt. San Antonio Mounties 92:
4-Laquenten Jones, SF - 4/14 fg, 5/10 ft, 5 reb, 10 ast, 2 blk, 6 stl, 3 pf, 13 pts
11-Dontay Sanford, PF - 3/7 fg, 1/2 ft, 5 reb, 1 ast, 2 pf, 7 pts
20-Rashad Bias, SG - 5/5 fg, 3/6 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 15 pts
24-Antonio Biglow, PG - 6/10 fg, 7/8 ft, 1 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 21 pts
33-Josh White, C - 1/3 fg, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 2 pts
32-Demarkus Isom-Jones, F - 6/8 fg, 6/7 ft, 1 blk, 2 pf, 18 pts
3-Ariel Hall-Jones, G - 1/4 fg, 4 ast, 3 pts
34-Kaimyn Pruitt, C - 4/7 fg, 1/2 ft, 10 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 9 pts
23-Kane Robinson, F - 2/4 fg, 0/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk, 4 pts
42-Jamel Morgan, C - 1 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 32/62 fg (.516), 23/37 ft (.622), 38 reb, 24 ast, 6 blk, 11 stl, 19 pf, 92 pts
3-pt fg (5): Bias 2, Biglow 2, Hall-Jones
Turnovers (19): Biglow 5, White 3, Isom-Jones 3, Pruitt 3, Robinson 2, L.Jones, Bias, Hall-Jones
Halftime Score: Citrus 39, Mt. San Antonio 38
Updated Records: Mt. San Antonio (#6-South, #11-Calif) 11-2, Citrus (#2-South, #2-Calif) 10-2
L.Jones & Biglow (Mt. SAC) both made the all-tournament team
