Griffins fall in long-awaited return
- Updated: November 4, 2021
Grossmont's Dominic Safarta (2) and Vincent Warren guard Compton on Wednesday.
2021-22 COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL
COMPTON 72, GROSSMONT 54
ECS staff report
COMPTON —- In the school’s first action in more than 600 days, the Grossmont College men’s basketball team looked like they could play at both ends of the spectrum.
In the first half against powerful Compton College, the Griffins kept the Tartars to just a single point over a 5-minute span of the first half.
Conversely, they also allowed a 26-2 scoring run which included 17 consecutive points, all before the midway point of the first half, eventually falling 72-54 in Wednesday night’s (Nov. 3) season opener in south Los Angeles County.
Although there’s a lot of growing pains to work through, the Griffins can take the strides to become respectable when conference play commences.
After allowing 34 points in the opening 10 minutes, Compton managed just eight points over the ensuing 10 minutes to make a game of it.
Vincent Warren, a 6-foot-4 swingman who most recently played volleyball for Christian High in 2019-20, paced Grossmont with 24 points.
Warren shot 9-for-16 from the floor as the only member of the Griffins to score in double figures.
For Compton, small forward Arvin Shirali came off the bench to register a team-high 14 points.
Grossmont (0-1) hosts its home opener on Monday, entertaining Cypress at 5 p.m.
RANCHO SAN DIEGO —- The Cuyamaca College men’s basketball team got off to a flat start to its season, scoring just 48 points in falling to visiting Irvine Valley College, 68-48, in non-conference action Tuesday (Nov. 2).
The Coyotes (0-1) did not supply game information, but IVC made information available.
Ray King, a sophomore from Otay Ranch High, led the Coyotes with 24 points – which, obviously, was half of Cuyamaca’s entire offensive output.
King averaged 17 points per game last season (2018-19)
“Our team defense was really good,” said Irvine Valley coach Jerry Hernandez. “They have two really, good guards and we were able to slow them down. I thought Aaron Strings did a really good job of setting the tone. He was our guy on defense.”
Irvine Valley (1-0), which was ranked No. 15 in Southern California in the California community college preseason poll, had 11 players score in the contest and three in double figures.
Leading the way for IVC was freshman forward Charlie Henderson with 12 points. Sophomore guard Luc Krystowiak added 11 points and freshman guard Tyson Robinson had 10 points.
“Charlie played really well,” Hernandez said. “He had a double-double and was a big key to our win.”
Strings, a sophomore guard, chipped in seven points and freshman guard Brian Mendoza and sophomore forward Colby Waite each contributed six points.
“(Associate head coach) Jason Garey had a great scout for our guys on the defensive end,” Hernandez said. “We defended really well. There are things to work on, but this was a solid win tonight.”
Cuyamaca returns to action at the College of the Canyons Tournament in Valencia, facing Barstow in the first round on Thursday.
