3C2A Men's Basketball Quarterfinal #1: Yuba starts slow but finishes fast in win over San Diego City
Men's Basketball Tournament Central
WALNUT - With a big second half, the Yuba College 49ers, the No. 3 seed from the North, opened the first day of the 3C2A Men’s Basketball Championships with a come-from-behind, 90-83, quarterfinal win over San Diego City College on Friday afternoon to advance to the semifinals on Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College.
Yuba (29-2), which last advanced to the semifinals in 2012 when it lost to Fresno City College, won its 23rd straight game with the win. The 49ers advance to Saturday's semifinal and will face the winner of Friday's second game between West Valley and Cerro Coso.
San Diego City College, the No. 2 South seed, concludes its season with a 26-6 record.
The 49ers outscored San Diego, 51-39, in the second half as they led most of the way after trailing almost all of the opening half.
“We’re a second-half team and obviously when you have a kid like that (Devon Malcolm), who is one of the best players in the state, and also two other All-State players, things are in your favor,” said longtime Yuba coach Doug Cornelius, who won his 500th game earlier this season. “We feel like this is the year that we got to make the run.”
One of Yuba’s two losses came to the Knights in the championship game of the Grossmont Tournament this season.
With the Niners leading by six, 86-80, with thirty seconds left, San Diego’s Kjay Bradley, Jr. connected with a 3-pointer to close within three points, 86-83.
In the last frantic moments of the game, the Knights had a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer, but a costly turnover and two subsequent free throws by Lewis-Cooper iced the game for Yuba.
Leading the way for Yuba was Malcolm with a game-high 27 points, followed by All-State first-team player Demarreya Lewis-Cooper with 24 points.
“We’ve already played these guys (San Diego City)... and know what their strengths and weaknesses are and their paint defense just wasn’t there,” Malcolm said. We just wanted it more and Yuba hasn’t been in the state tournament in a minute.”
Leading the way for San Diego City was sophomore guard Al Green with 25 points, while All-State first-team sophomore forward Alex Crawford added 21.
Yuba had a big advantage with 20 second-chance points.
The Knights led by as much as 13 points with 11:39 left in the first half, 26-13, with multiple 3-pointers.
Green, who led all scorers in the half with 15 points, connected for three long-range baskets.
Lewis-Cooper added eight points in the first half for the Knights, while Caden Flowers and Majer Sullivan added seven and six, respectively.
San Diego, which has won two 3C2A titles, made a game-high 6 of 9 3-pointers in the half.
Yuba, which was making its first trip to the final eight since 2018, started to cut into the lead later in the half with a long-range basket by Lewis-Cooper to trail by seven, 43-36.
Yuba started the second half with a 6-0 run to lead, 45-44, for its first lead since the first few minutes of the game on a tip-in by Malcolm.
That lead was short-lived, as the Knights came right back with a long 3-pointer by Bradley to lead, 47-45. Bradley, who is an All-State first-team selection, had five first-half points, but accounted for seven more early in the half.
Yuba tied the game, 49-49, on a slam dunk by sophomore forward Cam Niles with 17:05 left in the half.
Early in the second half, the Niners added to its rebounding advantage over San Diego, 25-15, and built up a four-point lead, 55-51.
It remained close throughout the first half of the period.
With 12:47 left, it was tied, 55-55, and remained close the rest of the way.
Yuba stretched the lead to 67-62 with a 3-pointer by Rohan Sheemar and a lay-up by Lewis-Cooper.
Their biggest lead of the second half, 69-62, came on a basket by Malcolm with 7:09 left in the game.
(Release by John Sherrard, for the 3C2A)
