Glendale Chokes Off a Rally : Tournament Host Tops Grays Harbor, 78-73; Canyons Wins

Grays Harbor College is located in Aberdeen, Wash., about 40 miles outside Olympia.

The schools’ nickname is the Chokers, in reference to the logging crew member who sets cable chains on fallen timber so that the trees can be moved to the mills.

Thursday night at Glendale College, the Chokers were unable to get a grip on Glendale center Alex Berry, who scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second half to lead the Vaqueros to a 78-73 victory in the opening round of the 8-team Vaquero Classic.

Glendale plays East Los Angeles tonight in a semifinal at 8:15.

College of the Canyons, an 81-79 winner Thursday over Columbia Basin College of Washington, meets Valley in the other semifinal at 6:30.

Berry, a 6-6 sophomore from Glendale High, normally plays behind Clarence Williams. But with Williams recovering from a tonsillectomy, it was Berry who pulled down 14 rebounds and helped fend off a furious second-half rally by Grays Harbor that left the Chokers with a tough loss to swallow.

“He really hurt us,” Grays Harbor Coach Gary Arthur said of Berry. “Even when he wasn’t getting the ball he was a threat.”

Glendale (5-4) led, 31-18, at halftime and was ahead, 46-27, early in the second half before the Chokers wiped out most of that lead and pulled to within 58-56 on a 3-point shot by Damon Bogden with 6:30 to play.

Berry and guard Bruce Heicke, who scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half, never allowed Grays Harbor (3-5) to tie the score.

Forwards Gary Fowler and Justin Lord had 12 and 10 points, respectively, for Glendale.

Shane McCullough led Grays Harbor with 19 points and Ed Bate and Greg Dineen added 12 each.

Canyons (8-5) used a balanced attack to outlast Columbia Basin (6-3), which stayed in the game on the strength of its 3-point shooting.

Canyons’ Larry Allbritton hit a 5-foot jumper from the baseline with 1:22 left that proved to be the game-winning basket.

Columbia Basin guards Heath Dolven and Lane Schumacher accounted for more than half of the Hustlin’ Hawks’ points. Dolven had 5 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 23 points--all of which he scored in the second half. Schumacher also had 5 3-pointers and finished with 17 points.

“Those two kids are coaches’ sons who grew up with basketballs in their hands,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser, said. “You’ve gotta pay attention to those guys all the time and we didn’t.”

Canyons was led by guard Steve Valenzuela, who came off the bench and scored a team-high 13 points.

“We had our chances at the end,” Columbia Basin Coach Ed Weidenbach said. “We just didn’t execute.”