Palomar Exposes Glendale

It took all of 2 1/2 minutes for Lee Cobb of Palomar College to set the tone in the first round of the Palomar men’s basketball tournament Tuesday night against Glendale.

Cobb scored Palomar’s first 9 points on a free throw, 2 short turnaround jump shots, a tip-in and a layup. It hardly mattered that he added only 8 points the rest of the night.

Riding the early momentum established by Cobb, Palomar coasted to a 75-62 victory over Glendale.

“I love to mix it up inside,” Cobb said. “I bring guys out of their game by throwing elbows and saying things to them.”

And in the process of pummeling the opponent, Cobb exposed what could be considered the Vaqueros’ Achilles’ heel--their inside game. Or lack thereof.

While Cobb was boisterous in his attack, forward Darryl Smith quietly dismantled the Vaqueros’ defense en route to a team-high 21 points.

Glendale (8-5), which pulled down a paltry 4 offensive rebounds, was stifled in the paint and was forced to resort to a perimeter attack. When the outside shots did not fall, the Vaqueros did.

Glendale’s lone bright spot on offense was the play of forward Gary Fowler, who scored a game-high 23 points and was 1 of 2 Vaqueros to score in double figures.

There have been nights this season when the Glendale backcourt has been hot enough to free the frontcourt for easy shots. Tuesday night was not one of them.

Bruce Heicke and Dave Swanson, usually deadly from the 3-point stripe, were a combined 3 of 13 from that distance and most of the misses failed to draw iron.

“We rely on the ‘three’ too much,” Heicke said afterward.

Trailing, 57-45, with 4 minutes to play, Glendale had to call on its long-range bombers. And Heicke, who had been cold all night, began to thaw, burying a pair of 3-point shots and scoring on a drive.

The Comets (8-6) answered with a 10-foot baseline jump shot and 2 free throws to go ahead by 8.

Glendale was unable to cut the lead any further until a Palomar player was called for goaltending with 51 seconds to play, trimming the deficit to 69-62.

The Comets put the game away by hitting 6 consecutive free throws after desperation fouls.

Glendale will face Bakersfield in the consolation semifinals today.

In an earlier game, Fullerton forward Mike Goff scored 35 points and teammate Darryl Griffin added 29 to knock off College of the Canyons for the second time this season, 95-84.

Canyons (9-7), which trailed, 32-16, with less than 7 minutes to play in the first half, exploded with a 17-2 run before the intermission.

The Cougars came out flat in the second half, however, and were never able to regain control.

Canyons will play Mt. San Jacinto in the consolation semifinals today.