ATHERTON, Calif. – Grit, persistence and determination defined the Vanguard men's basketball team in a crucial 79-76 road victory over Menlo College on Thursday night at Haynes Prim Pavilion.
Trailing for nearly the entire second half, the Oaks wrested the lead away from the Lions for all of 23 seconds before Vanguard knocked down five of its last eight floor shots to prevail in a nailbiter.
The Lions had an answer for every Menlo attack and used timely shots mixed in with some key defensive stops to thwart the Oaks on their home court. The win also avenged a 32-point loss to Menlo back on November 20 at The Pit.
In that game, Corey Le'aupepe and N'jai LeBlanc combined for 41 points on 17-of-26 shooting from the field. Tonight, the Lions limited the duo to 27 points 8-of-21 shooting.
Vanguard improved to 12-0 this season when shooting 50 percent or better from the floor. The Lions made 31-of-58 overall, 53.4 percent. They were equally as deadly from three-point range, shooting 52.6 percent (10-of-19).
The Lions benefited from another night of balanced scoring with four players in double figures and three others with at least seven points.
Masie Mohammadi (SR/San Carlos, CA) returned to his native Bay Area and led VU with 16 points. He made 5-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-5 from distance.
Phillip Willis (JR/San Diego, CA) contributed 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting and also canned three treys. He added five rebounds and a steal.
Andre Allen (SR/Los Angeles, CA) and Christian Wilson (SR/Temecula, CA) scored 10 points apiece. James Moore (SR/Talco, TX) finished with nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Isaac Davis (SR/Valencia, CA) ran the point effectively as he dished out five assists with no turnovers in a team-high 33 minutes.
Menlo was led by LeBlanc with 14 points while Le'aupepe chipped in 13.
What Happened?: Vanguard had a slight 36-34 lead at halftime, but came out firing to start the final 20 minutes with a three from Willis providing a five-point cushion.
Willis and Davis made shots on back-to-back possessions to extend the lead to 43-36, and Allen's traditional three-point play widened the cushion to 46-38.
Jordan Caruso (JR/New York, NY) knocked down a three to give VU its largest lead of the game at 54-45 with 10:10 to go, and that's when the Oaks buckled down.
Menlo scored five straight thanks to two Le'aupepe free throws and a Patrick Ryan three-point play to cut its deficit to 54-50.
Nico Dasca (JR/Costa Mesa, CA) bumped the lead back to six at 56-50 on a jumper.
But Adam Orr scored eight of the next nine points for the Oaks, his three-pointer narrowing the gap to 62-59 with 6:27 remaining.
Willis and Wilson responded with back-to-back layups to push the advantage to 66-59, but LeBlanc scored six straight as the Oaks trailed 66-65. LeBlanc could have tied the game, but missed the second of two free throws.
Parker Haven handed Menlo its first lead since late in the first half, putting the Oaks up 67-66 with a bucket at 4:07.
In front of friends and family, Mohammadi nailed a huge three to wrest the lead back for the Lions at 69-67 with 3:44 remaining.
The Lions held on from there, making key shots down the stretch. Wilson's dunk gave Vanguard a 71-67 lead. After Haven's layup trimmed the deficit to two, Wilson got inside for another bucket for a 73-69 advantage.
Caruso made a key steal on LeBlanc – and a putback by Willis off of a missed layup from Caruso provided the Lions a six-point lead with 1:41 to play.
Menlo had one final push as Le'aupepe's two free throws and layup made the score 75-73 Vanguard with 38 seconds to play.
Moore's layup with 22 seconds to go proved to be the final dagger as the Lions led 77-73.
Mohammadi hit two more free throws to close VU's scoring and Orr's three with less than a second left was too little, too late for the Oaks.
In a nip-and-tuck first half, Vanguard led for the first time at 15-14 with 12:12 to play. Allen connected for a three to put the Lions up 22-21, but Ziggy Lauese's layup gave the Oaks the lead back at 30-29.
Mohammadi's jumper with four ticks on the clock gave the Lions a two-point lead at intermission.
Why Is It Important?: Coming off a disappointing three-point, double-overtime loss to Life Pacific last week, Vanguard needed a win to stay in contention in the Golden State Athletic Conference. And like they have done so many times previously this season, they got the win playing a tough brand of team-oriented basketball.
What Was Said?: "Menlo is really tough, so well coached, and really good as a unit," said Head Coach Rhett Soliday. "We knew this would be one of the toughest places to win on the road and it definitely was. Our guys were really together tonight and stuck to the plan at both ends. One of our strengths continues to be our balance offensively and tonight we had multiple guys step up and make big plans again throughout the game. To shoot it from three the way we did was really nice to see. We will need all that and more heading into Saturday's matchup with Jessup."
What's Next?: A showdown with No. 6 William Jessup awaits this Saturday in Rocklin. The game tips off at 2:00 p.m.
