SAN BERNARDINO — When the Chaffey and San Bernardino Valley College men’s basketball teams met just before Christmas it took a second-half rally for Chaffey to overcome a 15-point deficit and win at home.
No such comeback was needed in Wednesday night’s rematch at San Bernardino Valley College.
Chaffey, behind hot shooting in the first half, raced to a 25-point lead and then withstood a Wolverines rally to prevail 96-82. The Panthers now have a two-game lead over both SBVC and Cerro Coso in Inland Empire Athletic Conference play with six games left.
“Today we took SBVC’s best shot in that second half and then did a nice job of answering it to pull away for a tough road win,” Chaffey coach Jeff Klein said. “These guys are truly bought into the things we’re working on and have improved as much as any team I’ve had here. When we get quality shots we’re a tough team to beat.”
Chaffey (18-4 overall, 10-0 IEAC) jumped out to an early 20-4 lead after a 3-pointer from Jermaine Rogers with 14:31 left in the first half. Uriyah Rojas, who finished with a triple-double of 25 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, connected on back-to-back deep 3-pointers as the Panthers stretched their lead to 33-8 with just under 11 minutes remaining until halftime.
Kwinten Crenshaw converted a layup off his own steal to cut the SBVC deficit to 16 with 3:18 left, but the Wolverines (17-5, 8-2 IEAC) trailed 47-33 at halftime.
“I wasn’t much of a rebounder growing up until I started watching Russell Westbrook and seeing him gave me that motivation to become a great rebounding guard,” Rojas said. “Our goal is a state title and after losing last year in the opening round we’re hungry for a chance to redeem ourselves in March.”
The Panthers were 7 for 17 from beyond the arc in that opening half, making six straight before closing 1 of 11. They’d finish 12 of 30 from 3-point distance and currently lead the CCCAA in made 3-pointers with 256.
SBVC kept chipping at the deficit, cutting it to 74-65 with 7:38 left after Darius Carr’s right wing 3-pointer, but Carr missed a free throw to convert the four-point play. Carr led all scorers with 26 points before fouling out.
“Our focus and attention to detail just wasn’t there tonight on both ends and that’s on me as their coach,” Wolverines coach Quincy Brewer said. “They’re good kids and are all focused on winning but we just haven’t clicked yet. We’ve got time to figure it out though before the state tournament and I believe we can do just that.”
Rogers’ layup with 4:42 left off a Nate Simon assist pushed the Panthers lead to 88-70, finishing a 14-5 run and forcing a Wolverine timeout. Speight’s steal and layup with 1:35 left cut the lead to 13 but SBVC got no closer and fell.
