SG Gregory Bewernick had 21 pts and made his last 6 shots of the game to lead Fullerton (8-9) to a 74-73 win over LA Southwest (7-9) in the 3rd Place game of the 20th Annual Cougar Holiday Classic at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita Tuesday afternoon.
This one was close all the way, with neither team leading by more than 9 points and neither team led by more than 5 points the last ten minutes of the game. SG Steve Newton's 3-pointer with about a minute to go provided the winning margin. Southwest had one last chance to win in the final seconds, but SG Marsellus Gray's shot at the buzzer bounced off the outside of the rim.
LA Southwest began the game by scoring 6 points in the first 49 seconds. But Fullerton rallied to take a 16-15 lead. The lead went back and forth the rest of the half, which ended with Southwest holding a 39-36 advantage.
Early in the second half, Southwest pushed its lead to 9 points at 49-40 after a basket by Ctr Adrian Session. But Bewernick shot Fullerton back even, making a 3-pointer and a pair of jumpers to cut the margin to 2 points, and later making a fallaway jumper to give Fullerton a 55-54 lead. The Hornets eventually built a 5-point lead at 64-59.
But Southwest rallied to take a 66-65 lead on a jumper by Ctr Chris Clayton, and then Gray scored a pair of baskets, the second after a steal, to give the Cougars a 70-65 lead.
Another Bewernick jumper cut the margin to three points at 70-67, and then SF Serdana Wright scored to make it a 1-point game at 70-69 with 2:41 left. Then PF Ayokunna Shofu scored on a baseline drive to put Fullerton ahead, 71-70. But Southwest got a basket fom PF Alan Mitchell to take a 72-71 lead.
Fullerton went back into the lead on a 3-pointer by SG Steve Newton that made it 74-72. Southwest had a chance to at least pull even when Wright was whistled for an intentional foul with 49 seconds left. But Gray made just one of his two free throws, closing the gap to a point at 74-73, and Shofu blocked an attempted lay-up by PG Bryce Layne with 18 seconds left. Ctr Jason Reinhardt missed the front end of a one-and-one with 6 seconds left, giving Southwest one last chance, but Gray's last-second shot missed, allowing Fullerton to escape with the win.
Bewernick finished 9 for 13 overall for his game-high 21 pts plus 7 rebs, and was named to the All-Tournament team. Shofu had 10 pts, 10 rebs, 5 asts, 7 blocks and 3 steals. SF Taylor Walker came off the bench for 10 pts.
For Southwest, Session led the way with 12 pts, 5 rebs, 4 asts and 4 steals. Layne had 10 pts, 5 rebs and 4 asts, and Gray had 10 pts and 5 rebs. Clark had 9 pts, 8 rebs, a game-high 7 asts and 3 steals.
box score
20th Annual Cougar Holiday Classic
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 @ College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita
3rd Place Game - 3 pm
LA Southwest Cougars 73:
3-Adrian Session, C - 5/15 fg, 2/6 ft, 5 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 4 stl, 2 pf, 12 pts
10-Dontae Clark, SF - 4/8 fg, 8 reb, 7 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl, 9 pts
12-Bryce Layne, PG - 4/10 fg, 5 reb, 4 ast, 3 pf, 10 pts
21-Alan Mitchell, PF - 4/10 fg, 8 reb, 1 ast, 3 pf, 8 pts
22-Casey Jones, SG - 2/5 fg, 2/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 7 pts
23-Marsellus Gray, SF - 4/13 fg, 1/2 ft, 5 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 1 pf, 10 pts
42-Chris Clayton, C - 3/7 fg, 2/3 ft, 3 reb, 2 ast, 3 blk, 1 pf, 8 pts
31-Brandon Towns, F - 3/4 fg, 6 pts
2-Blake Beason, G - 1/4 fg, 2 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl, 5 pf, 3 pts
33-Barris Oden, F - 1 stl, 0 pts
44-Kuashonn Kibbler, C - 0 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 30/76 fg (.395), 7/13 ft (.538), 43 reb, 25 ast, 6 blk, 11 stl, 16 pf, 73 pts
3-pt fg (6): Layne 2, Clark, Jones, Gray, Beason
Fouled Out: Beason 54 secs left
Turnovers (17): Layne 4, Clayton 3, Beason 3, Clark 2, Mitchell 2, Jones 2, Session
Fullerton Hornets 74:
4-Michael Manning, PG - 1/2 fg, 2/3 ft, 2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 4 pts
5-Joshua Rayne, C - 2/4 fg, 0/2 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 pf, 4 pts
10-Ayokunna Shofu, PF - 5/11 fg, 10 reb, 5 ast, 7 blk, 5 stl, 3 pf, 10 pts
25-Serdana Wright, SF - 4/6 fg, 2 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 9 pts
32-Gregory Bewernick, SG - 9/13 fg, 7 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 21 pts
45-Brandon DeForrest, C - 1/4 fg, 2 reb, 1 blk, 2 pf, 2 pts
22-Steve Newton, G - 2/5 fg, 3/4 ft, 5 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 8 pts
1-Taylor Walker, F - 4/9 fg, 1/1 ft, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 10 pts
24-Jason Reinhardt, C - 1/2 fg, 2/3 ft, 1 reb, 1 stl, 1 pf, 4 pts
2-Joshua Manning, G - 0/2 fg, 2/3 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 pf, 2 pts
team rebounds: 1
Totals: 29/58 fg (.500), 10/16 ft (.625), 37 reb, 20 ast, 9 blk, 10 stl, 13 pf, 74 pts
3-pt fg (6): Bewernick 3, Wright, Newton, Walker
Intentional Foul: Wright
Turnovers (22): Rayne 4, Wright 4, M.Manning 3, Bewernick 3, Newton 3, Shofu 2, DeForrest, Walker, Reinhardt
Halftime Score: LA Southwest 39, Fullerton 36
Updated Records: Fullerton 8-9, LA Southwest 7-9
LA Southwest led by 9 pts early in the 2nd half. Newton's 3-pointer with about a minute left gave Fullerton a 74-72 lead. Gray's would-be game-tying shot at the buzzer missed.
Bewernick (Full) was named to the All-Tournament team
