Canyons Hits Lag Time to Bypass Pierce, 85-74

Before his College of the Canyons basketball team took the court with Pierce College on Thursday night, Cougar Coach Lee Smelser accurately defined Pierce’s nagging problem.

“They play well for a time,” Smelser said, “then they have a dead spell. We’ve tried to eliminate those God-awful dead spells.”

Pierce played dead for more than 10 minutes in the second half, giving Canyons the edge needed to defeat the Brahmas, 85-74.

“We play well for 20 minutes,” Pierce Coach Larry Lessett said before the game, “and then we have a breakdown.”

The lapse, which came one minute into the second half, opened the court for the Cougar fast break, which came in the form of a slam-dunking Vincent Ray.

Ray scored six points within a two-minute span as Canyons went from a 37-36 lead to 45-38.

The Brahmas turned the ball over eight times during the dry spell, and Pierce fell behind by as many as 16 points.

“It was all over after that,” Lessett said.

Ray finished with a team-high 23 points. James Mixon scored 21 for the Cougars (6-4).

Tony Thomas had 20 points to lead the Brahmas (2-9).

Pierce’s Cedric Purry scored 10 of his 16 points in the first half, which ended with Canyons ahead, 35-32.

After falling behind, Pierce rallied to within five points of the Cougars with 57 seconds left in the game.

“We thought they would just fold their tent,” Smelser said. “But they hung in there.”

Canyons was playing without starting forward David Strauss, who was on the bench with torn knee ligaments.

Ray led the Cougars in the final two minutes of the game as Canyons made 8 of 9 free throws to maintain the lead.

PIERCE--Thomas 20; Purry 16; Young 16; Goodall 12; Jercha 10.

CANYONS--Ray 23; Mixon 21; Hines 14; Honaker 12; Aitken 6; Stapp 6; Hughes 3.