Canyons Looks Strong in Opening Round Tourney Win

The College of the Canyons men's basketball team capped off an 84-77 win over Marin College in the first game of the annual Santa Rosa College Kris Kringle Classic.

The win came just hours after the Cougars competed an approximately 400-mile trip up the coast.

However, showing no signs of road weariness, Canyons jumped out to a 36-31 lead at halftime, before closing out a strong second half to seal the victory.

COC guard Coley Apsay posted an impressive stat line, finished the game with 29 points and shooting 5-of-10 from the field and 17-of-18 from the charity stripe. To round things out the sophomore also added five rebounds, five assists, a steal and a blocked shot.

Forward Tullio Parry also had a strong night, converting 11-of-16 foul shots, pulling down eight boards and scoring 18 points.

The Cougar starting five handled the bulk of the scoring for Canyons, with Brenden Otero scoring 11 points, Victor Nwaba scoring eight points and Ricardo Greaves adding six points in the winning effort.

With its first round tourney win over Marin, Canyons (5-4) will now advance to face American River College in a second round matchup on Friday.