Glendale Victory Outside Job, 86-76

No matter the angle, Michael Schnyder found the range.

The left wing for a three-point basket? No problem.

One from the right wing? Done.

Straightaway? Ditto.

Schnyder made six three-point baskets and Glendale College defeated San Bernardino Valley, 86-76, Wednesday night in a second-round game of the Southern California men’s basketball playoffs.

“He clutched up,” Coach Brian Beauchemin said. “He’s going to make plays. He’s got a huge will to win.”

Schnyder, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard, scored a career-high 36 points and the Vaqueros (22-10) were never threatened after jumping to a 14-0 lead.

The reward?

Glendale, seeded No. 8, meets top-seeded Los Angeles City (32-3) in a third-round game on Saturday. The Cubs advanced with a 93-62 victory over San Diego City on Wednesday.

It is the fourth consecutive regional bracket final for Glendale. Each of the four bracket winners in the regional advance to the state championships March 8-10 at Stockton.

The Vaqueros led, 62-43, with 10:38 to play, their largest margin, before surrendering 11 consecutive points.

San Bernardino Valley (19-15) pulled to within 66-57 with 6:05 remaining, but that was as close as the No. 24-seeded Indians came to an upset.

Schnyder made sure the Indians didn’t get dangerously close.

He made four three-point baskets in the second half, scoring 22 of his points. Schnyder averaged 17.8 points in the regular season and shot 38% from three-point distance.

“They just kept backing off of me and I just took [the shots],” Schnyder said. “They were looking for me to drive on them like in the first game.”

Glendale defeated the Indians, 79-70, in the opener on Nov. 10.

The Vaqueros had 25 fouls and two players fouled out. Schnyder had three fouls of his four in the first half.

“We didn’t play defense like we did Saturday night,” Beauchemin said. “[The Indians] penetrated for easy shots.”

Glendale edged Cerritos, 53-52, in the first round on a layup and free throw by DeJon Lee with 18 seconds to play.

This time, Glendale blitzed San Bernardino Valley at the start, with Schnyder scoring 10 of the team’s first 14 points, including two three-point shots.

Marc Walters scored 14 points for Glendale and Tim Taylor had 11 points. Lee had eight assists and four steals.

Guard Charles Mann scored 19 points for San Bernardino Valley, including 17 in the second half. Guard Charles Litt had 16 points, 12 on four three-point baskets.

Beauchemin wasn’t surprised Schnyder, from Fremont High, lit up the Indians with three-point shots.

“He came here not a very good three-shooter,” Beauchemin said. “He learned to put that into his game.”

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