SCC Defeats Pt. Loma, 85-61, and Moves Into First in NAIA Southern

Southern California College had a dual purpose going into Tuesday night’s game against Pt. Loma-Nazarene College.

First, the Vanguards wanted to gain a little revenge against Pt. Loma, which beat them, 98-86, when the two met last month in San Diego.

Second, and most importantly, SCC was tied with Pt. Loma for first place in the NAIA District 3 Southern Division with a 6-2 conference record, and after making it to the playoffs last year, SCC was eager for a repeat performance.

SCC accomplished both goals Tuesday night as the Vanguards (21-4, 7-2) soundly defeated the Crusaders (20-7, 6-3), 85-61 and took first place in the NAIA District 3 Southern Division.

“We were fired up,” SCC assistant coach Larry Hirst said. “This was like the championship game for us. I don’t think there was anyway we were going to lose this game.”

SCC led by as many as 30 points in the second half and the capacity crowd of 950 at SCC was clearly delighted with the Vanguards’ performance. With 6:20 remaining in the game, senior forward Greg Ward brought most of the crowd to its feet with a series of fast-break dunks. Ward, who had 14 points, scored four times in a row in less than two minutes. On his fourth effort, Ward received a fancy behind-the-back pass from senior guard Sherwin Durham before slamming the ball into the basket and sending the crowd into a cheering frenzy.

Although the Crusaders were playing without leading scorer Deon Richard, who twisted his ankle in last Saturday’s game against Westmont, they couldn’t use that as an excuse for their loss. Pt. Loma turned the ball over 24 times, 13 times in the first half.

“You can’t win a basketball game turning the ball over like we did,” Crusader Coach Ben Foster said. “But SCC had the crowd pumped up, they shot well--I don’t think Deon would have made a difference at all. His absence hurt us mentally as much as anything else, but SCC had all the momentum.”

Indeed, the Vanguards took control of the game from the onset, using a tough 2-3 zone and some aggressive man-to-man defense and led at halftime 43-32. The combination defense seemed to bewilder Pt. Loma at times as it tried to execute an offense and continually found itself turning the ball over.

The Vanguards had five players in double figures: guard Randy McAllister had 17 points , guard Ken Bardsley had 14, Ward 14, Durham 13 and forward Neil Anderson 10.

Crusader Dalton Hayward led all scorers with 24 points, but the only other Crusader in double figures was junior forward Randy Schott with 11.

PT. LOMA NAZARENE (61)--Kimbrell 8, Cardonna 4, Bruce 7, Schott 11, Hayward 24, Lanthier 4, Briscoe 3.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COLLEGE (85)--Aviles 2, Ward 14, McAllister 17, Durham 13, Bardsley 14, Bruce 8, Anderson 10, Tibbs 4, Carbajal 2, Page 1.

Halftime--SCC, 43-32.