Canyon Wins Despite Its Troubles on Offense

That his team was nearly beaten in the first round of its tournament was enough to leave Canyon Coach Rob Alexander shaking his head Friday.

That it came against Cerritos, whose coach summarized his players’ performance by saying, “I was pleased with our effort considering we can’t score,” had Alexander questioning his team’s toughness.

The Comanches, ranked fourth in the county and the top-seeded team in the Canyon tournament, finally shook scrappy Cerritos late in the fourth quarter and advanced with a 50-41 victory at Canyon High.

“I think we can do a much better job of playing physical,” Alexander said. “We need to learn how to play through a game like this. They’re going to have to learn to be mentally tougher.”

Canyon led 11-2 six minutes into the first quarter, but couldn’t close the book on Cerritos, despite a height advantage. Canyon outrebounded Cerritos, 39-22.

Though they missed 15 of their first 19 shots, the Dons used a 7-0 run late in the second quarter to remain as close as seven points at halftime, 24-17.

“I never thought from the tip that we were going to lose the game, but we weren’t executing offensively like we can,” Alexander said.

Canyon (9-2) seemed to step it up at the start of the third quarter with an 11-4 run, punctuated by Neil Hammad’s three-pointer, giving the Comanches a 14-point advantage. But the Dons (2-8) closed the quarter strong and pulled as close as seven.

Canyon had just enough in the fourth quarter, however. Hammad’s 15-footer with 1:30 remaining gave the Comanches a comfortable 48-38 lead.

Drew Gaulden had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Ali Goodman added 15 points and 12 rebounds for the Comanches. Janus Norman led Cerritos with 16 points.

Canyon will play Duncan (Canada) Cowichan at 7:30 tonight.