It was a sunny day outside in Santa Clarita, but inside the gym it was raining threes as West LA shot their way past host Canyons, 75-63, in a key WSC-South game for both teams Saturday afternoon.
West LA (15-8, 6-6) made 7 three-point field goals in the first 11-plus minutes and 12 for the game, taking a 21-point lead with about 7 minutes left in the second half. Canyons (14-11, 6-6) rallied to get within six points with 1:23 left, but West LA made six free throws in the final 1:10 to finally secure the win.
The result leaves the teams tied for 4th place in the WSC-South, just a game ahead of sixth-place Santa Monica. The win keeps West LA in prime contention for a playoff berth. But it doesn't get any easier for Canyons, whose two remaining games are against two teams currently higher in the standings, Bakersfield and Citrus.
West LA took control of the game early with a barrage of threes. Xavier Basso started the game with one. Two by Brandon Hood gave the Wildcats a 9-2 lead. One by Malek Hijazi made it 14-7. Another by Hood pushed the lead to eight at 17-9. One by DeAndre Brown gave West LA a 20-11 advantage. One more by Hood made it 23-13 just over 11 minutes into the game.
The threes finally slowed down, and Canyons cut the margin to single digits when Ricardo Greaves and Chance Cole each made a pair of free throws to make it 29-21. But then West LA went on a 10-0 run, beginning and ending with 3-pointers by Hijazi and Basso to push the lead to eighteen points at 39-21. COC got two free throws from Coley Apsay with 1.6 seconds left before the break to make it 41-25. And West LA finally missed a 3-pointer - they were actually 9-for-15 in the first half - when Darius Middleton's 70-foot heave at the buzzer hit the rim and bounced away.
Canyons cut the deficit to 11 points in the second half when Apsay made a 3-pointer - COC's first trey of the game - and then scored on a driving lay-up with 13:10 left to make it 47-36. But then West LA stretched the lead to 21 points with Brown making one three and Hood making two of them over a 5-minute span. Basso scored on a putback of his own miss to give the Wildcats a 62-41 lead with about 7 minutes to go.
Canyons made a late run - helped greatly by some missed free throws by West LA - and closed the gap to six points with 1:23 left. Cole's 3-pointer made it 66-56, and a steal & lay-up by Brodric Smith cut the deficit to single digits at 68-60 with 2:07 left. A 3-pointer by Victor Nwaba cut the margin to six points at 69-63 with 1:23 left.
During that stretch, West LA missed 5 free throws, including two front ends of one-and-one opportunities. But in the final 1:10, as an avid West LA fan right behind the bench repeatedly yelled, "Stop missing!", the Wildcats indeed stopped missing free throws. Brandon Yamada made two free throws with 1:10 left, Hood made two more with 44 seconds left and Yamada made another pair with 27.9 seconds to go to finally nail down the victory for the Wildcats.
Hood led all scorers with 26 pts, which included 6 three-pointers and came on 7-for-10 from the floor and 6-for-7 from the line. He also had 6 rebs and 2 steals.
The West LA boxscore has a bizarre look to it as only two of the five starters made a field goal. But Brown came off the bench for 12 pts, including a pair of threes, plus 7 rebs, 3 asts and 4 blocked shots. Hijazi had 10 pts, also including a pair of threes, and starter Basso also had 10 points including 2 threes. Middleton was a nightmarish 0-for-9 from the floor but otherwise had an outstanding floor game with 4 pts, 3 rebs, a game-high 7 asts and no turnovers.
For Canyons, Apsay scored 10 pts and so did Brenden Otero. Nwaba had 9 pts and Greaves came off the bench for 9 pts and a game-high 10 rebs. Tullio Parry had 8 pts while Cole and Riley Honaker each scored 7. Honaker also had 5 rebs, a team-high 4 asts and a game-high 3 steals.
box score
Saturday, February 14, 2015 - 3 pm
at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita
WSC-South
West LA Wildcats 75:
0-Earnest Fife, SF - 0/2 fg, 2 reb, 3 pf, 0 pts
1-Darius Middleton, PG - 0/9 fg, 4/5 ft, 3 reb, 7 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 4 pts
5-Ovie Tomakili, PF - 0/1 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 4 pf, 2 pts
12-Brandon Hood, SG - 7/10 fg, 6/7 ft, 6 reb, 2 stl, 2 pf, 26 pts
32-Xavier Basso, C - 4/6 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk, 1 stl, 5 pf, 10 pts
4-DeAndre Brown, F - 5/8 fg, 7 reb, 3 ast, 4 blk, 2 pf, 12 pts
2-Brandon Yamada, G - 0/2 fg, 6/9 ft, 2 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 6 pts
3-Malek Hijazi, F - 4/7 fg, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 10 pts
21-Bryce Miller, C - 2/3 fg, 1/3 ft, 3 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 5 pts
team rebounds: 3
Totals: 22/48 fg (.458), 19/26 ft (.731), 33 reb, 18 ast, 8 blk, 7 stl, 26 pf, 75 pts
3-pt fg (12): Hood 6, Basso 2, Brown 2, Hijazi 2
Fouled Out: Basso 3:58 left
Turnovers (15): Brown 4, Hood 3, Yamada 3, Miller 3, Tomakili, Basso
Canyons Cougars 63:
10-Coley Apsay, PG - 3/14 fg, 3/4 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 10 pts
24-Chance Cole, SF - 2/7 fg, 2/2 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 7 pts
31-Victor Nwaba, SG - 2/9 fg, 4/5 ft, 5 reb, 2 pf, 9 pts
34-Tullio Parry, PF - 4/7 fg, 0/1 ft, 2 reb, 1 ast, 5 pf, 8 pts
41-Brenden Otero, C - 2/4 fg, 6/9 ft, 2 reb, 1 stl, 1 pf, 10 pts
20-Riley Honaker, G - 3/5 fg, 1/2 ft, 5 reb, 4 ast, 3 stl, 5 pf, 7 pts
44-Ricardo Greaves, C - 2/3 fg, 5/6 ft, 10 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 3 pf, 9 pts
15-Brodric Smith, G - 1/1 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 3 pts
42-Nick Howard, C - 0/3 fg, 1 reb, 0 pts
14-Jalen Ewell, F - 1 blk, 1 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 8
Totals: 19/53 fg (.358), 22/31 ft (.710), 40 reb, 11 ast, 3 blk, 9 stl, 23 pf, 63 pts
3-pt fg (3): Apsay, Cole, Nwaba
Fouled Out: Parry 2:59 left, Honaker 27.9 seconds left
Turnovers (15): Parry 3, Honaker 3, Breaves 3, Cole 2, Smith 2, Nwaba, team
Halftime Score: West LA 41, Canyons 25
Updated Records: West LA 15-8, 6-6 in WSC-S; Canyons 14-11, 6-6 in WSC-S
West LA made 7 threes in the 1st 11+ minutes to lead 23-13 and led by 21 at 62-41.
Canyons got within 6 at 69-63 with 1:23 left, but West LA made 6 FTs to clinch the win.
