Southern California Ends Its Losing Streak by Streaking Past Cal Baptist

Southern California College’s offense was slowed by a physical California Baptist defense in the first half Tuesday night, but the Vanguards came on strong in the second half to win, 76-68, in NAIA District 3 action at Costa Mesa.

SCC (3-2 in conference and 14-4 overall) didn’t lack first-half opportunities, but it failed to take advantage of Cal Baptist’s poor shooting. The Lancers (1-3, 10-11) shot only 12 of 32 (37.5). The Vanguards weren’t much better, shooting 8 of 26 (30.7%) in the first half. As a result, the game was tied, 33-33, at the intermission.

Which left Vanguard Coach Bill Reynolds little frustrated considering his team came into the game with a two-game conference losing streak.

“I thought we played hard, but we just didn’t capitalize or exploit anything,” Reynolds said. “I thought we got a few things with our transistion game, but we didn’t create anything with our defense.

“I felt the players knew the importance of the game, but part of the problem was we were pressing too much.”

But in the second half, the Vanguards got their transition working, and scored 11 consecutive points to open a 51-40 lead with 12:36 remaining in the game.

SCC was sparked by two unlikely players--center Mike Bruce and guard Randy McAllister.

“Our biggest guy turned into our best outside shooter,” Reynolds said of Bruce, who had a game-high 19 points. The 6-foot 8-inch senior made 9 of 10 shots from the field and had 11 rebounds.

McAllister scored 16 points, 11 in the second half. He was 4 of 4 from the field and 3 of 4 from the line in the half.

Another big contributor was Greg Ward, who stopped a Cal Baptist rally. The Lancers had pulled to within three, 53-50, with 9:41 left, when Ward rebounded a Neil Anderson miss and slammed the ball through in the same motion. The Lancers never threatened thereafter.

“That (Ward’s dunk) was a crucial play for us,” Reynolds said. “It gave us an emotional lift for our whole team.”

In addition to his dunk, Ward had seven points and nine rebounds.

SCC took control of the game, building an 11-point lead, 65-54, on a 10-foot jumper by Bruce with 5:27 left. Then the Vanguards went to their version of the four corner offense.

Forced to foul, the Lancers never got closer than six.

Sherwin Durham, eligible for the second game after sitting out for two weeks because of academic problems, started for the first time since Jan. 3. He had 12 points. Leading scorer Ken Bardsley, fighting what Reynolds called a lack of confidence, came off the bench to score 11 points.

Center Anthony Davis scored 17 points and had 13 rebounds to lead the Lancers. Guard Pat Green, Cal Baptist’s leading scorer with a 16.7 average, had 12.

The Vanguards play host to Cal State San Bernardino in a nonconference game Thursday night at 7:30.

CAL BAPTIST (68)--Green 12, Richards 11, Davis 17, Drachslin 4, Walker 4, Kennedy 2, Foy 8, Reynolds 2, Van Beveren 8.

SCC (76)--Bardsley 11, Bruce 19, Aviles 1, Anderson 8, McAllister 16, Ward 7, Durham 12, Reddick 2.

Halftime--33-33.