Screamin’ Eagles bring the heat against Griffins

By Bill Dickens
Updated: January 21, 2016

Mt. San Jacinto's Code Red cheering section.

2015-16 GROSSMONT COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL

By Bill Dickens

© East County Sports.com

HEMET (1-21-16) — KAELEN MITCHELL poured in 17 points, grabbed 6 rebounds and dished 3 assists, but it wasn’t enough in Wednesday’s (Jan. 20) Pacific Coast Athletic Conference North Division contest against the Screamin’ Eagles of Mt. San Jacinto College.

The Griffins trailed Mt. San Jacinto 30-26 by intermission but couldn’t maintain their pace in the second half as the Screamin’ Eagles prevailed 68-61.

MSJC, ranked No. 7 in Southern California, improved to 18-4 overall.

Meanwhile the Griffins fell to 18-8 overall, 0-1 in conference.

Teams all over the nation talk about having the “Sixth Man” in the basketball arena, and Mt. San Jacinto was no exception.

A near-full house, anchored by the Code Red rooting section, which is made up primarily of reformed inmates from the local prison and others recovering from alcohol and drug addictions, helped supply the pressure on the Griffins.

U-Turn for Christ, led by Gerry Brown, a pastor who leads the U-Turn ranch, a Christian based program in Perris for recovery from alcohol and drug addictions.
MSJC basketball coach Patrick Springer said they began with about 15 people and now, in their seventh season, completely fill a section of the stands with about 50 enthusiastic fans in red T-shirts. They repeatedly yell “Let’s Go, Eagles, Let’s Go” when Mt. San Jacinto has the ball and “Defense, Defense” when Springer’s players guard the other team.

“They sat right behind our bench,” said Grossmont assistant coach JOHN CLARK. “They were definitely a factor. I told our kids this is what you’re gonna get at the next level.”

Clark was referring to noisy collegiate home team fans, such as The Show (at San Diego State).

“It’s like a natural phenomenon now,” Clark said. “Everybody’s got a rooting section like that.”

Grossmont was only 7-for-28 against the Screamin’ Eagles.

SPENCER VERING contributed 14 points and 5 rebounds off the Grossmont bench.

MARIO MEZA added 9 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists for the Griffins, while DANIEL McCOWN pitched in 8 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.

“I can’t believe how good a shooting team Mt. San Jacinto is,” Clark said. “We played good hand-in-the-face defense and we took them all the way to the shot clock but they still got off great shots.”

If they want to be contenders, Grossmont is in need of a victory in their next bout when the Griffins host the Palomar College Comets Friday night at 7 p.m.

Grossmont at Mt. San Jacinto
@ San Jacinto, CA
g/20/16 at 7 pm

Grossmont
61

Mt. San Jacinto
68

FINAL	1	2	T
Grossmont	26	35	61
Mt. San Jacinto	30	38	68

#	STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
Grossmont
04	Marcos Meza	33	3-9	0-2	3-4	0	2	2	4	3	0	3	4	9
05	Daniel McCown	35	3-9	2-6	0-0	2	2	4	0	1	0	3	2	8
11	Corwin Feerick	22	1-5	0-3	0-0	0	5	5	1	0	0	3	3	2
23	Kaelen Mitchell	35	5-13	3-10	4-6	1	5	6	3	2	0	2	0	17
24	Luke Jackson	22	0-1	0-0	1-2	1	3	4	2	0	0	3	4	1
#	RESERVES	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
01	Remy Lawyer	28	0-3	0-1	6-6	1	2	3	0	1	0	0	4	6
15	Spencer Vering	19	5-9	2-5	2-2	1	4	5	0	1	0	1	1	14
20	Larry Stokes	2	0-1	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
25	LeAndre Powell	4	1-3	0-0	2-2	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	4
TM	TEAM					0	3	3				1	0
TOTALS			18-53 34.0%	7-28 25.0%	18-22 81.8%	6	27	33	10	9	0	16	18	61

#	STARTERS	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
Mt. San Jacinto
05	Kendall Brown	29	3-6	2-5	3-4	1	4	5	3	0	0	1	2	11
11	Tre Nottingham	21	2-11	1-7	2-3	2	2	4	3	5	0	2	2	7
12	Devin Fleming	25	3-7	3-7	0-1	0	1	1	3	2	0	3	2	9
24	Roosevelt Adams	24	4-9	1-2	5-5	2	7	9	1	1	0	5	2	14
44	Nick Pete	18	1-2	0-0	0-6	2	2	4	2	0	1	2	4	2
#	RESERVES	MIN	FGM-A	3PM-A	FTM-A	OREB	DREB	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	PF	PTS
00	Orlando Quinones	16	4-6	0-1	0-0	2	6	8	1	0	0	2	0	8
01	Rohjon Brett	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
13	Matt Bradshaw	15	2-4	2-4	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	6
15	Devin Shallowhorn	13	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	2	2	1	0	0	1	0	0
22	Carl Brown	16	3-6	3-6	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	9
32	Tyler Cooper	4	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	2
34	Robert Brooks	16	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	4	4	1	0	0	0	2	0
TM	TEAM					0	2	2				0	0
TOTALS			23-54 42.6%	12-32 37.5%	10-19 52.6%	9	32	41	15	8	1	19	19	68

GROSSMONT	TEAM STATISTICS	MT. SAN JACINTO
34.0% ( 18-53)	Field Goal %	42.6% ( 23-54)
25.0% ( 7-28)	3pt Field Goal %	37.5% ( 12-32)
81.8% ( 18-22)	Free Throw %	52.6% ( 10-19)
33	Rebounds	41
10	Assists	15
16	Turnovers	19
11	Points off Turnovers	13
8	2nd Chance Points	4
16	Points in the Paint	18
0	Fastbreak Points	0
24	Bench Points	25
5	Largest Lead	7
1st-06:12	Time of Largest Lead	2nd-01:28
Ties: 4; Lead Changes: 8