The battle between two
Vaqueros went down to
the wire as Glendale College
(2-0) made game-winning free
throws to win the Vaquero
Tip-Off Tournament over the
Santa Barbara Vaqueros (1-1)
74-70 Sunday night in Men’s
basketball at Glendale.
Freshman Anthony Phillips
made two crucial free throws
with the game tied at 70 to put
Glendale ahead of Santa
Barbara by two with 10 seconds
remaining in the game
allowing Glendale to win in a
comeback. Phillips was the
leading scorer for Glendale
with 21 points and 6 rebounds.
“All we needed to do was to
settle down and play our
game,” said Assistant Coach
Patrick Enman. “We did start
off a little slow but we picked
up our game in the second half
and [began] playing our style
of game.”
The two Vaqueros started
their way on to Sunday’s
championship game in a similar
way. Santa Barbara played
El Camino in the first game on
Nov. 12. Santa Barbara started
the game with a big boost and
had control of the game until
the last few minutes.
El Camino had one last run
in them and they cut the lead
down to two but it just wasn’t
enough as Santa Barbara won
76-72. Santa Barbara was lead
by two sophomores Jonathan
Pickert with 23 points and
Trent Watts with 17 points.
Mike Archuletta had 15 points
and 11 rebounds for El Camino.
The second game on Friday
was between Glendale and
Victor Valley College.
Glendale had no trouble with
Victor Valley as they led the
game by 25 at one point.
Glendale went on to win the
game 68-50.
Sophomore Durwin
Williams played an outstanding
all-around game with 15
points, nine rebounds and
three blocked shots. Freshman
Tyler Rose also chipped in 10
points and five rebounds in 16
minutes of action.
The El Camino Rams were
led by their freshman center
Brandon Henderson, who
scored 14 points and grabbed
eight rebounds.
The Vaquero Gym was packed on Sunday night for the
final game of the tournament.
Glendale got in early foul trouble
as Caleb Newton picked up
two very early fouls and had to
sit out most of the first half.
“The game was officiated
very tightly and we didn’t
adjust in time and got a few
players in foul trouble but our
bench players played their
game,” said Head Coach Brian
Beauchemin.
Santa Barbara took advantage
of the situation and built a
10-point lead trying to take the
crowd out of the game.
Freshman Jovan Jester made a three-pointer while getting
fouled and converted on his
free-throw to get the four-point
play.
Santa Barbara was up 40-32
at half time and it looked like
they had control of the game.
But as the second half started,
Glendale went on a 19 to six
run to get a five-point lead
with the help of Durwin
Williams’ great defense.
Williams had 18 points, nine
rebounds and four blocked
shots.
“We felt we were taking too
many careless shots in the first
half,” said Beauchemin. “We
started taking smarter shots in
the second half and finishing
our three-point plays.”
Late in the game the sophomore
point guard went down
hard to the floor trying to
block a shot.
He was all right but didn’t
return to the game. After losing
their back-up point guard, the
Vaqueros lost their starting
point guard DeJournett Wyatt,
as he was fouled out with nine
minutes remaining in the
game.
Phillips and Williams kept
on driving to the basket and
finishing on three-point plays. Santa Barbara went up by four
with only three minutes
remaining, but Williams kept
finding ways to get through the
defense as he found Rose
underneath the basket, who
finished strong to tie up the
score at 70.
After a strong defensive
possession by Glendale, Santa
Barbara was forced to shoot a
wild shot as the shot clock was
ticking. In the very next play,
Phillips drove to the basket
and was fouled; he made both
free throws to put Glendale
ahead by two with 10 seconds
left. Sophomore Brain
Corbette shot a three pointer
that could have won the game
for Santa Barbara but was a bit
short.
“We just hung tough and
didn’t give up,” said
Beauchemin. “Our Vaqueros
had a little more to show in the
last few minutes and I’m proud
of our boys to pull out the win
with some few players out in
the second half.”
Glendale will be going
against San Diego City College
at Glendale Friday at 5 p.m.