Richard Scores 31 to Lead Pt. Loma Over SCC, 98-86

Southern California College tried a variety of defenses Tuesday night in attempt to stop Pt. Loma-Nazarene. The Vanguards used a zone, man-to-man and full-court press.

But nothing the Vanguards tried seemed to work as they lost to the Crusaders, 98-86, in NAIA District 3 conference action in front of 630 at Pt. Loma.

SCC Coach Bill Reynolds not only ran through just about every defensive strategy he could think of, but also utilized most of his roster, playing 10 of 13 eligible players.

But the Vanguards just couldn’t stop the Crusaders, who shot 67% from the floor. SCC shot 54%.

“We tried everything, every defense,” assistant coach Hirst said. “But we never had five guys in their who were playing defense. If you give up 98 points in a game, you are not going to win.”

Reynolds agreed. “They had the depth and the points,” he said. “We had our starting guards in their for 37 out of 40 minutes and they just ran out of gas. We would have had more depth with Sherwin (Durham), but they also had quickness on the front line and we weren’t able to stop that.”

Durham, the Vanguard’s high-scoring senior guard has been benched since Jan. 3 because of academic ineligibility. Reynolds said Durham should be back in the lineup Saturday when SCC plays host to Westmont, the defending NAIA District 3 champion.

Pt. Loma (14-4, 2-1) led most of the first half. In the second half, SCC (13-3, 2-1) was unable to catch up because of the play of Pt. Loma’s 6-foot 6-inch forward, Deon Richard.

Richard, who averages 13 points and 11 rebounds a game, led all scorers with a game-high 31 points. The junior forward, who was the only sophomore on the NAIA District 3 all-conference team last season, was 10 of 12 in the second half and 10 of 10 in the last 14 minutes.

The Vanguards had four players score in double figures, including junior guards Robert Aviles and Randy McAllister, who had 15 and 18 points, respectively. Senior forward Greg Ward led all Vanguard scorers with 19 points and junior guard Ken Bardsley added 18 points.

“We played real aggressive man-to-man defense,” Crusader Coach Ben Foster said. “SCC is a wide-open offensive team and we knew we’d have to shut down their scoring in order to win. But tonight we gave up more points than we usually do--we’re averaging 63-64 points a game--and this wasn’t a good game for us. But we did score a lot of points and that builds up the team’s confidence.”

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLEGE (86)--Aviles 15, Reddick 2, Ward 19, McAllister 18, Bardsley 18, Bruce 6, Anderson 8.

POINT LOMA (98)--Davis 9, Kimbrell 14, Caradonna 12, Heyward 10, Bruce 12, Richard 31. Schott 10.

Halftime: 49-37 Point Loma.