Rachel Roth, Spring 2009 Staff Writer
Try to confuse them.
That was the goal Edward Babayan, head coach of the Pierce College men’s basketball team, at Wednesday’s home game against Los Angeles City College.
At the end of the night, it was the Brahmas who were confused.
Pierce, leading LACC 66-60 with just under three minutes left in regulation, allowed LACC to score nine unanswered points.
It cost them the game.
“We had it,” said Tyler Powell, Brahmas starting point guard. “We had this in our hands and we let it get away.”
Powell credits the 66-69 loss not only to the toughness of the LACC Cubs, but to the turnovers that plagued the team throughout the entire game.
“They were more physical (and) we turned the ball over too much down the stretch. We were careless. They deserved to win,” he added.
At the beginning of the night Babayan, head coach for the last four seasons, stressed the importance of playing “smart” basketball against the Cubs.
“In all reality they are bigger, stronger and more athletic than us. We need to be smarter than them,” he said.
Babayan felt if his team showed more intensity on the defensive end of the court, and more fluidity on the offensive end, they would be “in good shape.”
Pierce started strong, controlling the first half, until turnovers – 12 in the first 20 minutes – got in their way.
Down by nine with the game clock running down, Bertrand Kamga found himself alone in the corner. He knocked down a three to close the gap to 30-36 at the half.
Going into the second half, Pierce assistant coach Sean Edwardsen said to beat LACC, the Brahmas would need to “stop settling for jumpers” in the second 20 minutes of the game.
“We need to keep going inside. Points in the paint are huge. If we win the battle on points in the paint and rebounds, we’ll win,” he said.
He also said the team needed to be more careful with the ball.
“We need to have 10 (turnovers) for a game, not 12 for a half,” said Edwardsen.
Pierce spent the first nine minutes of the second half battling back from the six-point deficit. With 10:40 left to play, the Brahmas took command of the game when Justus Von Wright made a layup off an assist from Tony Trujillo.
Harout Markarian scored on Pierce’s next possession to put the Brahmas up 48-47.
With three seconds on the shot clock, Malcolm Collins hit a 2-point jumper, giving Pierce the lead.
Once again, it was turnovers that prohibited them from winning.
“We played hard, but we just had too many turnovers. You can’t win with 22 in a game,” Babayan said after the loss.
Babayan hopes that continuing to work hard in practice will help remedy the problem.
He said his team would also run “gassers” the next day, sprints from baseline to baseline in 10-seconds. He said they would run 22 – one for each turnover.
Kamga led the Brahmas with 13 points, hitting two of his three 3-point attempts, and Corey Duncan added 11. Trujillo had six assists and Arash Riahi had seven rebounds – four of which were offensive.
Pierce College guard Justus Von Wright lays up to score against Los Angeles City College one minute before the end of the game Nov. 12. Pierce lost the first home game of the season, 66-69. ()