Glendale Holds Off Canyons : Missed Layin Costly for Cougars, 70-68

College of the Canyons priced itself right out of a chance at victory Saturday night.

The Cougars trailed visiting Glendale, 70-68, with 14 seconds remaining in the Western State Conference game, and Canyons Coach Lee Smelser called a timeout to set up a play.

When play resumed, the Cougars cleared the side for guard Kevin Price, who drove past Vigen Serop to the basket but missed an uncontested layup that likely would have sent the game into overtime. Justin Lord rebounded for Glendale, and the Vaqueros escaped with their first WSC win in 2 tries.

“We decided we would let Price use his quickness,” Smelser said. “You’ve got to convert those when you get the opportunity.”

Glendale (10-7, 1-1) could have sealed the victory earlier had it converted some pressure free throws. The Vaqueros missed the front end of 4 1-and-1 situations in the final minute--3 by Lord and 1 by Alex Berry.

“That could have been a 10-point win, but we’ve got to make it so I lose four years off my life,” Glendale Coach Brian Beauchemin said. “You’ve just got to be confident, but you could tell Justin had negative vibes up there.”

Canyons (10-9, 1-1) fell behind, 15-4, in the early going and trailed, 38-30, at halftime. But the Cougars passed the Vaqueros in the second half behind the play of center Deon Myricks (12 points and 15 rebounds), forward Aaron Clark (17 points, 9 rebounds) and guard Larry Allbritton (12 points, all in the second half).

The score was tied 6 times in the final 8 minutes before Glendale surged to a 70-66 lead on Berry’s 3-point play with 1:12 remaining. A pair of free throws by Allbritton made it 70-68 and set the stage for Price’s missed layup.

Canyons had one last chance after Lord missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 4 seconds left. But the Cougars, out of timeouts, had to inbound the ball in the backcourt, and Clark’s desperation shot from halfcourt bounced off the backboard.

Gary Fowler led Glendale with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Bruce Heicke added 13 points, and Lord and Jimmie Fowler each had 11.