Griffins bounce back big at SBVC tourney
- Updated: November 18, 2017
Grossmont at the SBVC Tournament on Saturday.
2017 GROSSMONT COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL
GRIFFINS 75, RIVERSIDE CITY 73
EastCountySports.com staff report
SAN BERNARDINO – The Grossmont College men’s basketball team earned a big early season win on Saturday afternoon with a 75-73 victory over Riverside City College in the consolation bracket of the San Bernardino Valley Alvin Hunter Classic.
The Tigers were rated higher in the recent SoCal regional poll, so this has to constitute as an upset.
The Griffins led by five late and held off the Tigers’ furious rally.
Grossmont’s all-sophomore lineup was undermanned against a much-deeper Riverside squad.
DAVID WHEELER led Grossmont with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while BRYCE PARSONS had 15 points and nine rebounds and JOSH MORAN contributed 15 points in the win.
The game was tied 18-all with 10:30 remaining in the first half.
The Griffins led 33-32 at halftime.
Grossmont (4-2) clung to a 62-61 lead with 3:40 left in the game, then led 72-69 with 22 seconds remaining.
The key surge came when Parsons hit a three for a 67-65 lead with 1:37 remaining. Wheeler scored Grossmont’s next five points for the five-point advantage.
Riverside (4-2) now has a couple of tough losses on its ledger back-to-back, including a blowout defeat in their tourney opener to SoCal No. 2 East L.A.
Grossmont 69, Mt. San Jacinto 59
In the consolation final, Ronald Blain had 18 points and 8 rebounds, and Bryce Parsons added 18 points and 8 rebounds as 11th ranked Grossmont (5-2) picked up a 69-59 win over Mt. San Jacinto (3-6) on Sunday.
The duo combined to go 14-of-21 shooting.
All five starters scored in double figures for the Griffs, though alarmingly, they only got two points from their bench.
Grossmont shot almost 51 percent in the contest.
The Griffins trailed 7-6 early, but eventually went up by double digits in the first half and led 37-31 at halftime.
Mt. San Jacinto closed to within three a couple of times early in the second half, but within five minutes Grossmont had built the lead to around 10 once again where it stayed most of the way.
San Bernardino Valley 77, Grossmont 44
The No. 1-ranked Wolverines won in another run-away, as San Bernardino (4-0) got 13 points from Kevin McNeal and Craig LeCesne in the Hunter Classic victory.
Region 11th-ranked Grossmont was led by Parsons, who had 11 points.
The Wolverines scored the first 15 points of the game.
SBVC led 50-26 with 13:24 left in the game after trailing 34-20 at halftime.
Grossmont shot under 35 percent for the contest.
The Griffins return home to play Compton on Wednesday.
