PG Brandon Staton scored 30 pts and PF Chris Spencer came off the bench for 19 and 14 rebs to lead #16 Long Beach past #17 Santa Ana in the first round of the Southern California playoffs Wednesday night at the LBCC Hall of Champions.
Staton helped Long Beach (19-9) get the early lead with 5 three-pointers, the last of which broke a 25-all tie with just over 7 minutes left in the first half. The Vikings led the rest of the way though the win was far from secure before Staton made 6 free throws and Ctr Mwelu Mataya added two, all in the final 35.3 seconds, to clinch the win for Long Beach.
Santa Ana (16-11) drew within four points after a driving lay-up by SG DuJuan Williams made it 79-75 with 1:15 left. Seconds later, SG Cammie Lewis stole the ball back for the Dons near midcourt. But Lewis and Williams both missed 3-point tries, and Spencer grabbed the rebound for Long Beach. He moved it along to Staton, who was fouled with 35.3 seconds left and started making free throws.
Santa Ana got a pair of free throws from Williams with 28.9 seconds left to make it 81-77, but with the shot clock off the Dons had no choice but to foul. Staton made two more free throws with 27 seconds left. After a lay-up by Lewis with 22 seconds to go, Mataya made his pair of free throws with 14.6 seconds to go to make it 85-79. Staton added two more free throws with 3.7 seconds left to close out the scoring.
That was pretty much how things went all night for Santa Ana, which battled back time and again but was unable to come from behind and take a lead against the high-scoring Vikings. Lewis gave the Dons their only lead of the night with a 3-pointer about 30 seconds into the game, making it 3-2 after Mataya made two free throws on Long Beach's first trip down the floor.
Long Beach went on a 7-0 run to lead, 9-3, and never trailed again. Santa Ana got within a point at 9-8, but Staton knocked down two three-pointers and Spencer made one to push the Viking lead to double digits at 18-8. Another Staton three made it 23-10.
That would be the largest lead of the game for either team. Long Beach held a 25-13 lead when Santa Ana went on a 12-0 run, tying the score at 25 on a 3-pointer by Lewis with just over seven minutes left in the first half. But Staton put Long Beach back in front with another three, and the Vikings led the rest of the game.
The Vikings led by seven points at 46-39 at the half, and maintained a single-digit lead for most of the second half. Santa Ana got within two points at 55-53 when Spencer threw down a tremendous putback slam that got the crowd involved, and it also sparked what became an 11-2 spurt for the Vikings. Spencer scored off a pass from Staton, who was seated in the lane at the time, to push the Long Beach back to double figures at 64-54. SG Kristien Owens scored from under the basket to push the lead to 11 points at 66-55.
Despite some serious foul trouble - starters PG Erik Emanuel and PF Terrence Blum each picked up 3 fouls in the first 12 minutes and each ended up fouling out fairly early in the second half - Santa Ana battled back, cutting the deficit to six points after a 3-pointer by SF Chad Young made it 66-60. Two free throws by Lewis made it a 5-point game at 70-65 with 4:18 to go. Long Beach pushed the lead back to ten after a 3-pointer by Owens with 3:20 left made it 75-65, but the Dons kept battling and got the margin down to four points with the ball, only to finally fall short.
Staton led all scorers with his 30 pts, and he added 3 rebs, 3 asts and 3 steals. Spencer had a tremendous game off the bench with 19 pts, a game-high 14 rebs, a team-high 5 asts and 3 blocked shots. Owens had 14 pts and 4 asts, and SF Eljiah Gaines filled the stat sheet with 12 pts, 7 rebs, 3 blocks and 3 steals.
For Santa Ana, Williams came off the bench to score at team-high 26 pts, which included 5 three-pointers, and also had 5 rebs, 2 asts and 2 steals. Lewis had 17 pts, 3 rebs and 3 asts, though he was just 4-for-19 from the floor. SG Damien Benson chipped in with 10 pts and Young had 9 pts, 4 rebs and 5 asts. Ctr Cameron Hill had 7 pts and a team-high 11 rebs. The Dons made 13 three-pointers, but just 20 field goals overall and shot just 29.4% from the floor.
With the win, Long Beach advances to the regional quarterfinal round and will travel to Lancaster to take on top-seeded Antelope Valley on Saturday. Game time is 7 pm.
box score
Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - 7 pm
at the Hall of Champions, Long Beach
Playoffs - 1st Round
Santa Ana Dons 79:
11-Cammie Lewis, SG - 4/19 fg, 6/6 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 1 pf, 17 pts
21-Erik Emanuel, PG - 1/3 fg, 3/5 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 5 pf, 5 pts
23-Chad Young, SF - 3/11 fg, 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 5 ast, 2 pf, 9 pts
25-Terrence Blum, PF - 1/4 fg, 2 reb, 1 stl, 5 pf, 2 pts
33-Cameron Hill, C - 1/5 fg, 5/10 ft, 11 reb, 2 blk, 1 stl, 4 pf, 7 pts
5-DuJuan Williams, G - 7/17 fg, 7/7 ft, 5 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 26 pts
31-Corey Wilson, F - 1/1 fg, 1 reb, 1 stl, 2 pf, 3 pts
20-Damien Benson, G - 2/6 fg, 4/4 ft, 2 reb, 1 stl, 2 pf, 10 pts
4-Darius Tucker, F - 0/2 fg, 1 reb, 1 stl, 1 pf, 0 pts
45-Justin Johnson, C - 0 pts
team rebounds: 7
Totals: 20/68 fg (.294), 26/34 ft (.765), 39 reb, 13 ast, 3 blk, 10 stl, 25 pf, 79 pts
3-pt fg (13): Williams 5, Lewis 3, Young 2, Benson 2, Wilson
Fouled Out: Blum 9:52 left, Emanuel 4:11 left
Turnovers (14): Williams 4, Emanuel 3, Lewis 2, Hill 2, Young, Blum, Benson
Long Beach Vikings 87:
3-Elijah Gaines, SF - 6/14 fg, 7 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk, 3 stl, 1 pf, 12 pts
21-Brandon Staton, PG - 8/18 fg, 9/10 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 4 pf, 30 pts
23-Mwelu Mataya, C - 1/2 fg, 6/6 ft, 6 reb, 3 ast, 2 blk, 4 pf, 8 pts
32-Kristien Owens, SG - 6/13 fg, 1/3 ft, 1 reb, 4 ast, 4 pf, 14 pts
42-Ryan Stewart, PF - 1/2 fg, 2/2 ft, 7 reb, 2 blk, 4 pf, 4 pts
4-Andre Springer, G - 0/1 fg, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
11-Chris Spencer, F - 8/10 fg, 2/6 ft, 14 reb, 5 ast, 3 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 19 pts
44-Evion Harris, C - 1 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
5-Carlos Sanchez, G - 0/3 fg, 1 ast, 3 pf, 0 pts
50-Avery Hamilton, C - 2 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 30/63 fg (.476), 20/27 ft (.741), 49 reb, 18 ast, 10 blk, 7 stl, 27 pf, 87 pts
3-pt fg (7): Staton 5, Owens, Spencer
Technical Foul: Spencer
Turnovers (18): Gaines 6, Stewart 4, Owens 2, Spencer 2, Staton, Springer, Sanchez, team
Halftime Score: Long Beach 46, Santa Ana 39
Updated Records: Long Beach (#16 seed) 19-9, Santa Ana (#17 seed) 16-11
LBCC led virtually all the way, but never by more than 13 pts (23-10) and 11 in the 2nd half (66-55).
SA trailed 79-75 and Lewis stole the ball back with just over a minute left, but he and Williams both missed 3-pt tries.
Staton (6) and Mataya (2) combined for 8 FTs in the last 35.3 seconds to clinch the win for LB.
