Glendale Community College men’s basketball can’t complete comeback bid
GLENDALE — Trailing by 10 points with less than seven minutes to play, the Glendale Community College men’s basketball team made a late charge Friday to keep its bid alive to advance to the championship game of the Vaquero Classic.
The Vaqueros trimmed the deficit to three in the final minute and had one final opportunity to complete the come back.
Unfortunately for Glendale, its bid fell short when a three-pointer by Juwan Thomas missed with 1.2 seconds left and Glendale fell, 68-63, in a tournament semifinal game against Rio Hondo.
“We gave ourselves a chance at the end,” said Glendale Coach Vigen Jilizian, whose team will meet Antelope Valley or L.A. Valley in the tournament’s third-place game at 3 p.m. Saturday. “We made some good stops to get us back in there and we just came up short.
“We had about a four- or five-minute swing there just past the midway mark of the second half where we couldn’t get to some loose balls and they scored some baskets. You just try to come back strong and finish 2-1 in the tournament or you can just fold up the tent.”
Rio Hondo (7-8), which will face Antelope Valley or L.A Valley in the championship game at 5, held a 59-49 lead with 6:41 to go.
A three-pointer by Glendale guard Cesar Reyes pulled the Vaqueros (3-7) to within 66-63 with 1:35 remaining. The Roadrunners had an opportunity to extend the advantage, but couldn’t convert with 21 seconds left. Glendale called time out with 7.3 seconds to play before Thomas’ three-pointer missed. Juaquin Zavala then made two free throws with less than a second left to seal the victory for the Roadrunners.
Glendale received a team-high 18 points from sophomore guard Cole Currie, a Crescenta Valley High graduate and former All-Area Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year. Currie finished with eight second-half points, including a basket with 4:03 left to cut the deficit to 64-58 with 4:03 remaining.
“It just came down to a couple of possessions, here and there,” Currie said. “We had to overcome a few mistakes and play catch-up.
“We still gave ourselves a chance at the end. We just couldn’t keep them off the three-point line and they made some shots.”
Glendale held a 34-33 halftime lead. Rio Hondo took a 46-39 advantage on a three-pointer by Preston Sachs with 14:02 to go. Another three-pointer by Sachs made it 59-49. Sachs finished with a game-high 25 points and eight rebounds.
A three-pointer by Currie tied the contest at 20 with 9:10 left in the first half. Currie followed with a three-pointer with 1:05 left to give the Vaqueros a 34-32 lead.
Kenneth Daniel registered 13 points and seven rebounds for the Vaqueros, who got nine points from Reyes and eight from Jeri Mask.
“Saturday will be a big game for us going up against a Western State Conference South Division rival,” Jilizian said. “We have to come back and finish up strong.”
