Cougars Can't Keep Up with Chaffey

SAN JACINTO, Calif. — A poor night shooting and 21 turnovers unraveled the Cougars in their consolation game loss to Chaffey College in the Hemet Valley Kiwanis Hoops & Crops Tournament. The Cougars lost 63-50 in their final game of the three-day tournament.

Despite outrebounding the Panthers 40-23, COC didn't take advantage of its opportunities, managing only 12 second-chance points the entire game.

The Cougars kept pace with Chaffey throughout the first half, but eventually found themselves down by as many as 13 with less than four minutes left in the first half.

With COC trailing 28-15, the Cougars began a comeback to close out the first half. Guard Coley Apsay sparked the offensive spurt, finding Ricardo Greaves and Victor Nwaba to go on an 8-0 run and cutting the Chaffey lead to five.

Chaffey's Victor Joseph, however, single-handedly ended the COC run. Joseph was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws, then hit a three-pointer as time was expiring in the first half to bring Chaffey's lead back up to 11.

The second half didn't turn out much better for COC, as the Cougars trailed by as many as 20 points at one point. The Cougars shot only 37.5 percent from the field  and committed 11 turnovers in the second half, on the way to a fourth defeat of the season.

Freshman guard Coley Apsay led the team in scoring with 13 poins and added five assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Ricardo Greaves scored 10 points and added five assists, while Victor Nwaba scored nine points and grabbed a game-leading 10 boards.

COC is now 4-4 on the season.

College of the Canyons next plays against the College of Marin in the first game of the Santa Rosa Tournament at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 18.