It may have been “just another game on the schedule” for the Cal Poly Humboldt men’s basketball team in Lumberjack Arena on Saturday according to CPH head coach DJ Broome, but the electricity in the stands was evident as the Jacks welcomed back last year’s head coach Chris Tifft, now in his first season with Cal State San Bernardino. Tifft made the rounds pregame shaking hands and offering hugs.
The Jacks started out hot from three-point range and stretched their lead out to 16-10 before San Bernardino began to match their offense, the game staying nip-and-tuck throughout the rest of the first half. The Coyotes actually went up 57-47 in the early stages of the second half, but the Lumberjacks kept chipping away at the advantage. Tyriq McNeal was inserted into the lineup and immediately made his impact felt, getting to the line and hitting tough twos and providing Humboldt with a surge of momentum.
Ken McCanless
Rob Jenkins passes inside in Saturday action for CPH. (Ken McCanless)
Ultimately, after a Rob Jenkins defensive stop, the game came down to the final possession, in which Wayne Hampton III ran the clock down with his dribble, rose up from the ring wing, fired, and nailed a jumper with just .3 seconds on the clock to win it for CPH. It was Hampton’s second game-winner in the past couple of weeks on the back of the last home contest, a 78-77 win over Chico State.
The game started out auspiciously for the home team, Zaveion Bineyard and Jenkins getting a couple of and-ones. Jenkins and Shakir Odunewu hit threes before Hampton hit a smooth driving two and a three on the back of that. But the Coyotes tied the game a 21-all on a spinning two and continued to pound the offensive glass. Odunewu had a dunk on a Bineyard feed and Hampton a three. After multiple fouls on both teams, both squads were in the double bonus early, just outside of 6:00 left before half, as officials seemed to want to exert control, the women’s game having been a cavalcade of technical fouls and trips to the line.
Jenkins had a big rebound and feed to Hampton for a three, and a Dorrell Thomas three sent the Jacks into halftime up 42-37.
The early second half saw San Bernardino come back and take the lead on an 11-point run before Jenkins had a fast break bucket to make it 50-45 Coyotes. Odunewu went for another dunk on the roll, and ended up hitting one of two free throws when fouled. But the visitors kept the pressure on, going up 55-46 and then 57-47 on a turnaround in the lane.
After a Bineyard three, and a Thomas corner three, the Jacks were back to within four. But San Bernardino hit a three plus one, and went up 10 again on two subsequent free throws. Freshman McNeal had a couple of big buckets inside, showing his bounce, with a couple of step-throughs. Drew Ardouin hit a three for Humboldt, and McNeal had a tip-in, scoring two more of what would be his 10 on the afternoon. Bineyard hit a two plus the harm and put the Jacks up at long last, 74-73. The Coyotes went up again on a deep three when CPH went zone, and Hampton hit a driving two to tie. Trading buckets late, San Bernardino couldn’t convert after drawing up a play with 26.9 seconds left. That led to Hampton’s heroics, leaving no time left for the Coyotes to get off a final shot.
Hampton finished with 17 on the game to go with four rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Bineyard had 13 points with six rebounds, Jenkins contributed 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists, and McNeal had his 10 on four-of-five shooting from the field. CPH allowed just two steals on the game and shot 50% from three-point range. The Lumberjacks, now tied for second place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association with Dominguez Hills, are at 11-7 overall, 9-3 CCAA.
Ken McCanless
Former Humboldt coach Chris Tifft checks in with old friends at the scorers’ table. (Ken McCanless/The Times-Standard)
As to what enabled the early lead, Broome said, “I think we were feeling the energy and the vibe we’ve been playing with and the energy from the crowd from another rivalry game. So I thought out of the gate we were ready to play. Obviously, that’s pretty easy to do when you’re making shots, I thought our offense was clicking pretty well in the first half. We could’ve done some things better defensively to start, which kind of caught up with us in the second half (when they were down 10). Tyriq really saved our bacon. He came in with extremely high energy, flipped the game, which started on defense getting stops and then some easy buckets at the rim with some stuff in transition.”
“We went back to the starters, tried to switch up defenses a little to slow them down, and got to the point where we had the last shot with Rob’s stop on one end, which he’s been doing for us, and Wayne was able to finish the game off.”
Broome said he felt good about the ball movement early on, which he said his squad has been doing for the majority of the year, being willing to make the right play and “get a bunch of guys involved. I think that’s our strength, strength in numbers, in our box score there’s usually three, four, close to five in double digits. We’re doing it by committee, though Zaveion is out in front statistically and Rob and Wayne and Shak and Drew and Brandon (Bento-Jackson) are all guys that contribute. Any given night, there’s five or six guys that can get double digits pretty quickly and Tyriq was able to do it in 11 minutes. I give him a lot of credit for turning that game around for us.”
Being efficient scoring the basketball and taking care of it went hand-in-hand for the coach, as the fewer turnovers created, he said, the more chances there are for good shots. “When we get shots and opportunities,” he said, “We’re putting up pretty good numbers.” He said that’s especially true for the road environments the Jacks will find themselves in the next two weeks, but was optimistic in how his squad’s been handling the ball.
Besides the scorers, Broome recognized Thomas for playing big minutes with seven quick points and keeping guys in front and playing help defense, “timely and much-needed to give us a gap in the first half.” Dennis Cash got credit for good minutes as did Raydon Thorson. “As it gets late the game, we find our strengths, and I give those guys a lot of credit for staying engaged and being great teammates and all of them contributed to us getting the win.”
After looking for more defensive focus from his bigs in past weeks, Broome said, “We’re getting there. I think we’re still coming a little too much in phases, really good sometimes and really bad sometimes. So trying to find the middle ground of having the really good stretches and having those that aren’t not be horrible. We’re still a work in progress but a lot plays into that. Human nature is to rest on that side but overall, our intent and trying to focus on that end was pretty good.”
The team has a couple road games coming up against Cal State LA and Cal State Dominguez Hills on Thursday and Saturday, at 7:30 p.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
Ken McCanless can be reached at 707-441-0526.