In his final home game at GCC, Michael Schnyder dominated the second half of Wednesday’s 65-53 victory over Santa Monica College (11-18, 6-5 in WSC).
The sophomore scored 22 second-half points for a game total of 29.
“It was my last home game, and I knew we had to win,” Schnyder said. “I knew if we lost this game that we wouldn’t have a home game in the playoffs.”
The first half of the game was one that coach Brian Beauchemin called the worst half he has seen. Each team committed 15 turnovers. Neither side could establish anything offensively.
“We just played sloppy, and were throwing the ball away,” forward Robert Turnbull said. “We were so hyped and ready to play that everybody wasn’t ready to catch the ball.” Turnbull added 10 points to the score, and seven rebounds off the bench.
Glendale took a 25-23 lead following back-to-back 3-pointers by Schnyder and Kevin Krose.
In the second half, down 30-29, the Vaqueros charged into a 6-0 run to take the 35-30 lead. Baskets by Bobby Mitchell, Omosalewa Daramola, and Deandre Browler started the run. Glendale (19-10, 7-5 in WSC) kept it close, never letting the deficit get past five, and tied it up on a 3-pointer by Schnyder. Schnyder scored three 3-pointers in the game.
With just under 12 minutes left in the game, Schnyder slammed down a rebound over Browler that got the crowd into the game, and excited his teammates. The dunk put Glendale down by four, and Glendale got it to one, before Daramola, and Hugo Sterk converted four straight free throws. Sterk had seven points, all in the second half.
“They couldn’t handle the press,” Schnyder said. “When we put the press on them they looked like a high school team.”
During that seven-minute stretch, Santa Monica made two points, both on free throws by Brandon Williams.