Canyons Gets First Conference Win 79-69 Over Glendale

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

College of the Canyons notched its first conference win by way of a 79-69 final result at the Cougar Cage on Saturday.

The win, which came on "white out" night, put the Cougars back at .500 for the season and represented the squad's first win on its newly renovated playing floor. As part of the "white out" promotion the first 50 fans in attendance received Cougars basketball T-shirts. 

The victory also snapped a three-game losing streak for Canyons (7-7, 1-3) which has 10 regular season games remaining on the schedule, all vs. Western State Conference (WSC), South Division opponents.

COC sophomore Zach Phipps scored 19 points in the contest, including 13 in the second half, after shooting an even 50 percent from three-point land. He also recorded seven rebounds in the game.

Sophomore point guard Jordan Nash had another strong all-around game with 18 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals. Freshman Michael Davidson was 5-of-9 from the field for 11 points, while Christopher Bradford added 12 points to go with eight rebounds and eight assists. 

Freshman forward Virgil Mahoney led all players by pulling down 11 rebounds, with five of the offensive variety. Reserve Nader Hussein provided the Cougars with a big boost of the bench, going a perfect 3-of-3 from downtown to finish with nine points and three assists. 

Canyons was aided in its effort by shooting better than 70 percent from the foul line and committing just six turnovers in the game. The Cougars also outrebounded Glendale by a 46-33 margin. Those numbers proved vital for COC after  the team shot just a combined 37.8 percent from the floor.

Glendale (5-13, 0-4) remained winless in conference play despite receiving 25 points from guard Andreyas Boghossian. Starters DeAndre Walters and Khanbulag Nyamkhuu finished with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

The Vaqueros shot 42.6 percent for the game and trailed COC 35-34 heading into the break. 

The difference came in the final four minutes, however, as Canyons held Glendale tofour points over the last four minutes of play. Jay-Kez Moore's three-pointer at the three-minute mark put COC ahead 71-66. Phipps later converted one of his long-range jumpers to give the Cougars full control 76-69 with 1:14 to go.

With just over 30 seconds to go Moore sealed the game with a three-point shot to put the game at its eventual 79-69 final score.

Canyons will remain home to host Citrus College (11-7, 3-1) at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22 at the Cougar Cage.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. 

 — Photo by Tori Pircey