#13 Compton (21-9) got 27 pts and 10 rebs from SF Justin Carter and 21 pts and 11 rebs from PF Wayne Andrews and posted an 87-77 upset win over host #4 Chaffey Saturday night in the first round of the Southern California regional playoffs.
Encouraged by a vocal contingent of supporters, led by the Compton baseball team, the Tartars shot 55% in the second half and 53% for the game while keeping the cold-shooting Panthers from using their pressure game to get easy baskets. Compton committed 24 turnovers, but just 10 of those were Chaffey steals and few of them were converted into Panther points.
Compton began the game on a 14-2 run, bringing their supporters to their feet and filling the small gym with cheers for the Tartars. Andrews began the game with a slam dunk. And SG Larry DeHughes made a three and a putback basket and then passed to Ctr Jameel Johnson for a lay-up to finish the run about 7 minutes into the game.
But Chaffey recovered from the rough start, tying the score at 20 on a driving lay-up by SF Jamar Berry with 10:22 left in the first half. The lead went back and forth for the next several minutes, with Compton gaining a 6-point edge at 36-30, but Chaffey finished the half strong and took a 45-41 lead after a FG+FT 3-point play by Berry and a driving lay-up by PF Michael Strawberry.
At that point, Compton trailed by 4 at halftime despite shooting 50% from the floor. And Chaffey led despite shooting just 35% with only 5 threes and 6 steals in the half.
Usually, Chaffey's depth and pressure wear down opponents, and the Panthers rack up easy points and 3-point baskets as the game goes on. But just the opposite ended up happening; it was the Tartars, despite playing what was basically a 7-man rotation, who seemed to get stronger as the game went on.
Chaffey pushed the lead to 8 points at 58-50 with 12:28 left in the game, and appeared to be on its way to a win by the usual formula. But then Compton rallied, closing the gap to just a point after a driving lay-up by Carter just after the 10-minute mark. That made it 59-58. And the Tartars took the game just over two minutes later when a FG+FT 3-point play by Ctr Jeremy Lightfoot made it 64-64 with 7:41 left.
Chaffey went back in front on a short jumper by Strawberry with 7:10 left, but that would be the Panthers' last lead of the game. Lightfoot threw down a loud jam to put Compton back in front, 67-66. Then PG Christian Chavarria drew a charge on the defensive end, and Carter scored on a driving lay-up to make it 69-66. And after a steal by DeHughes on defense, Carter made a short jumper to make it 71-66. Then came a pair of free throws by Andrews to make it 73-66 with 5:19 left.
Chaffey still had plenty of time to rally, but the Panthers never got closer than 4 points. A three by SF Alwyn Jordan made it 75-71 with 4:15 left, but Compton scored the next 5 points to push the lead back to 9 at 80-71 with just over 3 minutes remaining.
Chaffey cut the margin back to 5 points after a pair of free throws by Berry with 2:08 left that made it 80-75, but Andrews and Carter each made a pair of free throws to push the Compton advantage back to 9 points at 84-75 with 1:05 left.
Finally, Chaffey got a pair of free throws from Ctr Brandon Price to make it a 7-point game at 84-77 with 41.9 seconds as Chaffey held out some faint hope of a comeback. But when Compton got the ball back, Chaffey had to foul. And Chavarria went to the line and made his first free throws. Then he missed the second, but Andrews grabbed the rebound and scored on the putback to make it 87-77 and end any remaining doubt about the game's outcome.
For Compton, Carter and Andrews were the standouts with their 20-10 games. DeHughes had a solid game as well with 13 pts, 7 rebs, 3 asts and 3 steals. Johnson added 9 pts and Chavarria dished out a team-high 4 asts.
For Chaffey, Berry led the way with 16 pts, 8 rebs and 5 asts. But he was also weakened with the flu, as evidenced by his 6-for-18 shooting, including 1-for-9 in the second half. Segovia had an excellent game with 16 pts, including 3 threes.
But Segovia was the exception, as Chaffey finished with just 7 3-pointers, including just 2 in the second half. And the Panthers grabbed just 4 steals in the second half. The lack of easy baskets played a big part in Chaffey's 29% shooting from the floor in the second half.
Also for Chaffey, Jordan had 10 pts. Price had 6 pts and a team-high 11 rebs plus 4 of the Panthers' 10 steals. Ctr Kenny Hicks, who started in place of Bobby Kovach, grabbed 8 rebs and blocked 5 shots, but most of that was in the first half. Kovach, who like Berry was suffering from the flu, played briefly but did not score.
With the win, Compton improves to 21-9 and will travel to Valencia to face #5 seed Canyons next Saturday. Chaffey finishes 28-7 after posting 28 wins for the second consecutive season.
Box Score
Saturday, February 24, 2007 - 7 pm
at Chaffey College, Rancho Cucamonga
Playoffs - First Round
Compton Tartars 87:
5-Larry DeHughes, SG - 5/10 fg, 1/2 ft, 7 reb, 3 ast, 2 blk, 3 stl, 4 pf, 13 pts
23-Courtnei Houston, PG - 1/7 fg, 3/5 ft, 6 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 4 pf, 5 pts
24-Wayne Andrews, PF - 6/8 fg, 9/12 ft, 11 reb, 3 ast, 3 blk, 2 pf, 21 pts
32-Justin Carter, SF - 10/20 fg, 7/14 ft, 10 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl, 2 pf, 27 pts
33-Jameel Johnson, C - 4/5 fg, 1/1 ft, 1 reb, 1 blk, 2 stl, 3 pf, 9 pts
10-Christian Chavarria, G - 1/2 fg, 3/4 ft, 2 reb, 4 ast, 2 pf, 5 pts
14-Jeremy Lightfoot, C - 3/4 fg, 1/1 ft, 6 reb, 2 pf, 7 pts
2-Kevin Alexander, F - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 0 pts
31-Ryon White, C - 1 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 30/57 fg (.526), 25/39 ft (.641), 49 reb, 16 ast, 7 blk, 11 stl, 20 pf, 87 pts
3-pt fg (2): DeHughes 2
Technical Foul: Carter
Turnovers (24): Carter 6, Houston 4, Chavarria 4, DeHughes 3, Johnson 3, Andrwes 2, Lightfoot 2
Chaffey Panthers 77:
1-Isaac Segovia, SG - 6/10 fg, 1/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 stl, 1 pf, 16 pts
3-Michael Strawberry, PF - 3/14 fg, 5 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 6 pts
14-Darryl Carlton, PG - 2/8 fg, 2/2 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 6 pts
22-Alwyn Jordan, SF - 3/9 fg, 3/4 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 4 pf, 10 pts
30-Kenny Hicks, C - 1/6 fg, 0/1 ft, 8 reb, 5 blk, 3 pf, 2 pts
2-Anthony Carson, F - 2/8 fg, 2/2 ft, 2 reb, 1 blk, 2 pf, 7 pts
23-Jamar Berry, F - 6/18 fg, 4/5 ft, 8 reb, 5 ast, 3 pf, 16 pts
33-Brandon Price, C - 2/3 fg, 2/5 ft, 11 reb, 4 stl, 4 pf, 6 pts
34-Stephen Richardson, G - 1 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
15-Jacob Wilson-Hill, F - 1/3 fg, 2/3 ft, 2 reb, 5 pts
24-Chris Massengale, F - 1/4 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 pf, 3 pts
21-Anthony Clayton, G - 0/1 fg, 1 pf, 0 pts
12-Bobby Kovach, C - 0/1 fg, 3 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 27/85 fg (.318), 16/24 ft (.667), 52 reb, 11 ast, 8 blk, 10 stl, 31 pf, 77 pts
3-pt fg (7): Segovia 3, Jordan, Carson, Wilson-Hill, Massengale
Turnovers (19): Carlton 4, Berry 3, Segovia 2, Strawberry 2, Jordan 2, Hicks 2, Price 2, Richardson 2
Halftime Score: Chaffey 45, Compton 41
Updated Records: Compton (#13 seed) 21-9, Chaffey (#4 seed) 28-7
Compton shot 55% in the second half; Chaffey shot 28.6% with just 2 threes in the second half
