San Jose City College takes advantage of long scoring drought to stun Bear Cubs

Things were looking pretty rosy for the Santa Rosa JC men's basketball team with 15 minutes remaining in Friday night's NorCal regional opener at Haehl Pavilion.

Many in the large crowd were on their feet, smelling a rout, as the Bear Cubs took an 11 point lead on the San Jose City College Jaguars on back-to-back field goals by sophomore Travis Clegg.

And then the SRJC offense stopped.

The Cubs managed only one basket over the next 13 minutes, 34 seconds in a season-ending 85-72 loss.

"Terrible," said Clegg, who led SRJC with 21 points, including a couple fast-break dunks.

Missed layups; poor passing when San Jose players turned up the defensive heat and missed free throws doomed the Cubs (20-8), who entered the 18-team tournament seeded No. 5 and was facing a team seeded No. 12 and losers of five of their last nine games.

"Guys who made plays all year didn't tonight," said SRJC coach Craig McMillan. "Shots we normally make we were missing. A lot of guys had off nights at the wrong time."

And a lot of San Jose players had outstanding performances, particularly when it appeared their season was almost over.

"I was really concerned when they (SRJC) had that lead," said San Jose sophomore guard Tristan King. "All of a sudden everyone picked it up. We didn't want this to be our last game."

King, a 6-foor-3, 200-pounder averaging 17 points per game, managed only five points in the first half, but spearheaded the Jaguars' rally and finished with game-high 26 points.

Reggie Smith, a 6-4, 200-pound freshman, had 17 points, including 13 in the first half when the Cub defenders were concentrating on stopping King.

Amos Carter (17), Tyler Tiedeman (13) and Eryk Thomas (12) joined Clegg in double-figures, but only Thomas could manage a basket in the long dry spell when the Jaguars were making their comeback.

Tiedeman, the Cubs leading scorer, averaging 18 points per game, was closely guarded and got off only four shots in the first half. He made one basket and two free throws in the first 20 minutes.

Tiedeman scored six points on free throws in the second half, but was shut out from the field until he hit a 3-point shot with 1:08 to play and San Jose (22-6) leading 82-69. He finished 2 for 9 from the field.

San Jose coach Percy Carr rotated five fresh players into the game every two or three minutes for most of the first half.

"We do that when we want to press," said King, who came to San Jose from Louisiana. "I think it helped in the second half when we stepped up the pressure. They seemed to be tired."

The Jaguars came into Friday's game reeling from a series of losses, including a 64-46 loss to Cabrillo College - a team they beat three weeks before, 83-69.