GCC loses big lead, falls in overtime

NORTHEAST GLENDALE — A 15-point cushion at home was too thin for the Glendale Community College men’s basketball team Saturday night against West Los Angeles and DeAndre Davis.

It was a game of runs, as both teams traded blows until the very end. A 17-2 run by West Los Angeles in the final nine minutes of the second half gave the Wildcats a chance to get the dramatic, 74-72, Western State Conference victory in overtime.

“I don’t think we played very well,” Glendale Coach Brian Beauchemin said. “We missed a lot of shots, couldn’t get open and didn’t play well down the stretch.”

Davis, the leading scorer for the Wildcats (10-13, 5-6 in conference) and the conference (averaging 28.9 points per game heading into the contest), proved too much for the Vaqueros to handle. He finished with a game-high 30 points and tied for a game-high 10 assists.

Two key Glendale players played limited minutes Saturday night after arriving late for warm-ups. Antonio Garrett, one of the team’s leading scorers, only played 22 minutes in the 45-minute affair — still managing to get 13 points and 10 assists. Suilaiman Sekamwa, the Vaqueros’ leading rebounder, played just 26 minutes, scoring 12 points.

“I didn’t say much to the team after the game because our preparation for this game was not what it should have been,” said Beauchemin, whose team fell to 16-10 and 5-5 in conference.

Ending the first half down, 29-26, it looked like the Vaqueros had made the necessary adjustments at the break. They jumped out to a 29-14 run to go up, 55-43, with just over nine minutes left in the game.

Then, all of a sudden, Glendale’s offense went cold — failing to score for the next seven minutes. The Wildcats answered right back with a 17-5 run of their own. Davis was responsible for 14 of those points.

“We like to get it in DeAndre’s hands and let him do his thing,” West Los Angeles’ Coach Ron McClurkin said. “He’s hard to stop, he can shoot from the outside very well and get past guys if they try to jam him.”

Glendale still had a chance to win at the end, though. Drop Mouhamed went to the line for the Wildcats with 10 seconds left in the game and his team down, 60-59. Mouhamed made the first and missed the second. With no timeouts left, the Vaqueros got the rebound and pushed the ball up the floor but were unable to get off a shot before the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.

The Vaqueros got back on track offensively in the extra session, thanks to Nate Bryant. Bryant scored 10 of Glendale’s 12 points in overtime, finishing the game with a team-high 18.

It was déjà vu for Glendale in overtime. Davis stepped to the line with his team up, 73-72, with eight seconds left. He made the first and missed the second. Nikolas Rhodes rebounded the ball for Glendale, ran past midcourt and threw up a three-point shot with time expiring that barely touched the rim, giving West Los Angeles the 74-72 victory.