Canyons Bench Sets Trap for Grossmont

Reality in the shape of a strong half-court trap rose up Wednesday night and slapped the Grossmont College basketball team in the face.

The upstart Griffins, seeded 27th and fresh off an upset of sixth-seeded Moorpark in the first round of the Southern California regional junior college basketball tournament, were looking to add a second Western State Conference foe to their list of victims when they met 11th-seeded College of the Canyons.

But Grossmont’s hopes of an upset, like its season, unraveled under Canyons’ trapping pressure defense in the second half as the Cougars pulled away for a 100-75 victory at Canyons.

Canyons (21-12), which won for a school-record 11th consecutive time, is now one win away from participating in the state tournament and will meet Long Beach in Saturday’s final round.

“We just didn’t execute and got in a hurry and didn’t keep our poise,” Grossmont Coach Rick Wilkerson said. “The pressure bothered us.”

That’s an understatement.

Canyons hounded Grossmont relentlessly after intermission, forcing 24 turnovers. The Griffins (15-13) had 33 turnovers overall.

“They couldn’t deal with the trap. We knew they were a little short at the guard position,” Canyons Coach Lee Smelser said. “If they had any vulnerability, we knew it would be there.

“We certainly knew their front line could play.”

Grossmont’s starting front line of Tony James, Rafid Kiti and Jerome Price accounted for 81 of 101 points against Moorpark, but only Kiti, with a game-high 32 points, broke double figures against the Cougars. Price finished with nine points and James had seven.

Twelve Canyons players scored as Smelser substituted liberally throughout the game, and the Cougar bench outscored Grossmont’s substitutes, 38-17.

It was in fact Smelser’s substitutes who came in and pumped some life into the Cougars in the early going after a slow Canyons start. The Cougars fell behind, 20-10, and Smelser went to the bench. Reserves Jason Harrison (15 points) and Marquis Wilborn (eight points and seven rebounds) were particularly effective.

“We were just dead in the water to start with, and I couldn’t understand it because I thought the kids were ready to play,” Smelser said. “We were lackadaisical until we put (Chris) Dyer and (Mike) Basowski in and got our defense going.”

Canyons, which won for the eighth consecutive time at home, outscored Grossmont, 34-19, over the final 12:44 of the first half and led, 44-39, at intermission.

Reggie Bell had 17 points for Canyons, and Nick Sanderson added 15. Teammates Jeff Dorst and David Langley each scored 12 points and Dorst had a game-high eight rebounds.