#9 Monterey Peninsula (12-4) raced out to a huge lead, dominated the game for most of the way, and then had to hold off a furious late rally by College of the Redwoods (5-9) but came away with a 77-70 win in the last game of the first day of the Chabot Tournament in Hayward Friday night.
The Lobos scored the game's first 8 points - Redwoods was scoreless for the first 6:38 of the game - and increased their lead to 14 at 19-5 midway through the first half. By halftime, the lead was 37-18 as the Corsairs shot just 25% in the first 20 minutes. The second half featured more of the same from the Lobos, whose lead reached a high of 24 with about 6 minutes left.
The 67-43 lead came after SF Marco Ramos had gotten the ball in the open court and attempted a showboat put-the-ball-through-the-legs dunk. The dunk misfired, but Ctr Alex Veit was there for the putback to make it 67-43. Nonetheless, MPC coach Blake Spierling angrily called timeout and removed Ramos from the game.
And when the game resumed, the Redwoods went to a high-pressure, fast-paced game. With PG Jamar Rankin, SG Kenneth Goodwin and SF Colin Mason leading the way, the Corsairs scored 27 points in the final 6 mintues to close the gap to 6 at 76-70. And in the final minute, they had the ball as they trailed by 6, but a three by Goodwin missed. MPC got the rebound, and the Redwood rally was cut short.
For Monterey, each of the first 7 players into the game had strong efforts. SG Tommy Gard came off the bench, made his first 6 shots of the night (including 4 threes), and led the Lobos with 19 pts; he also had 3 steals. SG Darrol Phillips and PF Curtis Harrison each had 12 pts and 7 rebs. Veit had the game's only double-double with 10 pts and 10 boards. PG Will Nganga had 6 pts plus a game-high 8 astss. SF Jermaine Johnson added 8 pts and 4 rebs off the bench. And even Ramos did well (his ill-considered dunk attempt notwithstanding) with 7 pts, 4 rebs and 3 asts.
For the Redwoods, Goodwin led the way with 19 pts and 8 rebs. Rankin had 17 pts (4 threes) and 6 asts while Mason had 14 pts, 5 rebs and 3 asts. Ctr Owen Lutje managed 10 pts and 7 boards and PF Colt Mathews, who battled foul trouble most of the game, tied for team honors with 8 rebs.
With the win, MPC advances to play host Chabot while the Redwoods will face College of Alameda.
other Friday scores:
Diablo Valley 65, Gavilan 42
Fresno 110, DeAnza 81
Chabot 58, Alameda 52
box score for MPC-COR
Monterey Peninsula Lobos 77:
3-Darrol Phillips, SG - 5/9 fg, 0/2 ft, 7 reb, 4 ast, 12 pts
5-Will Nganga, PG - 2/4 fg, 2/4 ft, 5 reb, 8 ast, 2 stl, 6 pts
32-Marco Ramos, SF _ 2/9 fg, 3/5 ft, 4 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 7 pts
42-Curtis Harrison, PF - 2/5 fg, 8/11 ft, 7 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 12 pts
50-Alex Veit, C - 5/15 fg, 10 reb, 10 pts
11-Tommy Gard, G - 6/10 fg, 3/4 ft, 6 reb, 1 blk, 3 stl, 19 pts
24-Jermaine Johnson, F - 2/4 fg, 4/4 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 8 pts
34-Nathan Rodzach, C - 1 reb, 2 blk, 0 pts
22-Daniel Eoff, G - 0 pts
44-A.J. Walker, C - 0/1 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 2 pts
12-Michael Miller, G - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 0 pts
20-Cody Christensen, G - 1/4 ft, 1 pt
team rebounds: 1
Totals: 24/58 fg (.414), 23/36 ft (.639), 49 reb, 20 ast, 4 blk, 8 stl, 77 pts
3-pt fg (6): Gard 4, Phillips 2
Turnovers (21): Harrison 6, Nganga 5, Phillips 3, Veit 2, Ramos, Gard, Johnson, Eoff, Christensen
College of the Redwoods Corsairs 70:
0-Colt Mathews, PF - 2/9 fg, 8 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 4 pts
2-Nik Whirry, PG - 0/1 fg, 0/1 ft, 1 reb, 0 pts
23-Thomas King, SF - 2/4 fg, 1/1 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 5 pts
24-Kenneth Goodwin, SG - 7/18 fg, 4/4 ft, 8 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 19 pts
34-Owen Lutje, C - 5/9 fg, 0/4 ft, 7 reb, 2 st, 1 blk, 1 stl, 10 pts
1-Jamar Rankin, G - 6/16 fg, 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 6 ast, 2 stl, 17 pts
12-Colin Mason, F - 5/13 fg, 2/4 ft, 5 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 14 pts
32-Alex Taylor, F - 0/2 ft, 2 reb, 0 pts
5-Jonathan Reese, G - 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 pt
21-Marcus Powell, F - 1 reb, 0 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 27/70 fg (.386), 9/20 ft (.450), 42 reb, 17 ast, 2 blk, 8 stl, 70 pts
3-pt fg (7): Rankin 4, Mason 2, Goodwin
Fouled Out: Mason 0:22 left, Mathews 0:11 left
Turnovers (20): Mason 4, Goodwin 3, Lutje 3, Rankin 3, Whirry 2, King 2, Reese 2, Mathews
Halftime Score: Monterey 37, Redwoods 18
Updated Records: Monterey 12-4, Redwoods 5-9
