Men's basketball scores against Glendale Vaqueros
The free throw line proved to be the Santa Monica Corsairs men's basketball team's damnation and salvation as they came back to defeat the Glendale Community College Vaqueros on their home floor Wednesday, 67-58. Glendale controlled the first half and were able to penetrate to the basket and get shots to fall. The Vaqueros went on a run, hitting better than 50 percent from the floor, and were able to hit perimeter jumpers exposing the Corsairs 2-3 zone.
The biggest problem, however, for the Corsairs came from the charity stripe. The Corsairs struggled mightily from the free throw line shooting 4-13 at 30.8%.
However, with the Corsairs up by seven points, sophomore guard Ronnie Price hit four free throws to complete a perfect night at the line and salt away the game.
At the end of the first half the Corsairs trailed 28-35 and were 10-28 from the field at 35.7%.
The second half the Corsairs came out with a vengeance, with sophomore guard Ronnie Price taking the lead finishing the game over 50 percent from the perimeter.
“So I stayed positive with them at halftime and try to weather the storm and that’s what we were able to do,” Santa Monica College head coach Jerome Jenkins said.
The Corsairs were able to cut the deficit to one after Price hit a clutch three with 12 minutes remaining.
“What really [us] effective for us was our defense coming together as a unit because we haven’t been playing as a team," sophomore guard Jerry Shelvin said. “Coach talked to us in the locker room and we got our heads together.
The Corsairs took their first lead since leading 12-9 at the 15 minute mark of the first half after Brandon Baker hit two floaters in a row.
Freshman guard Carter Gallo followed up with a big time corner three to push the Corsairs lead to 62-55 with 1 minute and 45 seconds remaining.
“We like to think we are 1-0 right now. Lets go to Bakersfield and get another win. Just take it one game at a time and at the end of the year we will see where we are at,” Jenkins said. “I gave them the same scenario with my 2011 team that won the conference. We started 0-2. So we are trying to start the season over right now.”
Price was the leading scorer with 20 points. Baker added 11 points and 7 rebounds. King scored 7 points, and Shevlin went 3-6 from the field and scored 9 points.
The Corsairs are the road again Saturday against the No. 20 Bakersfield Renegades.