Coyotes, Griffins strong in victories

ECS staff report

RANCHO SAN DIEGO —- The Cuyamaca College men’s basketball team possesses a “go-to” opponent when it comes to fixing its struggling offense.

For the Coyotes, simply gain a whiff of the ocean breeze and take down Golden West College of Huntington Beach.

After earlier scoring an embarrassing 44 points to start the season, Cuyamaca bounced back by busting the Rustlers, 96-74, on Wednesday (Nov. 17).

The victory allowed the improving Coyotes (2-5) to gain a split among last week’s contests against schools from the Coast Community College District. The other result was a 96-82 setback on Friday (Nov. 19) to Orange Coast of Costa Mesa. The remaining CCCD school, Coastline College of Fountain Valley, does not field a basketball team.

Two years ago (last season was canceled), Cuyamaca ran up a 105-91 triple-figure marker over Golden West, the Coyotes’ highest point total in more than a decade when they tallied 100 to crush Barstow and 96 to swamp MiraCosta in 2007-08.

In this year’s edition with GWC, Cuyamaca held a 40-35 halftime advantage before exploding for 56 second-half points to out-gun the Rustlers.

Headed by 29 points from Ray King, three different Coyotes tallied 20 or more points. The others featured P.J. Brinkman (26) and Anthony McManus (20).

Golden West couldn’t handle King inside, who enjoyed his parade to the foul line by sinking 14-of-16 shots.  He also paced the Coyotes with 11 rebounds.

King also shared the ball by collecting six assists,. second only behind point guard Carlos Arevalo (7). Brinkman added team-bests of five blocks and four steals.

King later scored 23 points in the setback to Orange Coast (3-3).

Cuyamaca completes its 4-game homestand by meeting Santa Ana on Fri., Dec. 3, at 5 p.m. A ballgame that will allow the Coyotes to see how they compare to other Pacific Coast Athletic Conference competition after the Dons downed Grossmont, 87-77, on Saturday (Dec. 20).

Grossmont 83, El Camino 55

TORRANCE —- The Grossmont College Griffins men’s basketball team collected a rare victory in Los Angeles County after man-handling host El Camino College, 83-55, in a non-conference affair on Wednesday (Nov. 17) to also gain a split for the week. The decision ruined the home opener for the winless Warriors (0-6).

El Camino gave the contest to the G-House, as Grossmont had 24 points off free throws in 31 attempts. The Griffins also scored 28 points off of El Camino’s 25 turnovers.

For the Griffins (1-5), which broke a 4-game losing skid, guard Vincent Warren led the way with 27 points and 9 rebounds.

Calvin Payne came off the bench to register 11 points, while starting guard Eugene Mitter added 10.

Next week, Grossmont will host its annual tournament, meeting L.A. Trade-Tech in the feature game on opening night on Friday (Dec. 3) at 5 p.m.