John Gilliam keys Chaffey men’s basketball in SoCal Regional win over Pasadena City
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – John Gilliam didn't have five high-flying dunks. That was Adom Jacko.
He didn't have five 3-pointers either. That was Devyn Sampson.
But the Chaffey College guard scored the five most clutch points in a 79-71 win over Pasadena City College in the third round of the CCCAA Southern California Regionals on Wednesday night.
Gilliam, who began his college career at UC Riverside, actually scored nine of the fourth-seeded Panthers' last 10 points. The most important included two free throws that he followed with a three-point play for a nine-point lead to cap a possession that cost PCC the entire 35-second shot clock.
Chaffey (27-5), which needs two more wins to advance to the California Community College State Championship, will play the winner of top-seeded Antelope Valley and Cerritos on Saturday.
PCC (21-10), which made the playoffs for the first time in a decade, trailed Chaffey by two with 3 1/2 minutes to play, but faded down the stretch.
The 12th-seeded Lancers will have to hang their hat on the second-round upset of fifth-seeded Saddleback College.
"These guys deserved to be here," PCC coach Michael Swanegan said. "We had some crucial turnovers and gave up some easy baskets at the end. I think we just ran out of gas."
Gilliam finished with 16 points, but it was Sampson who led the Panthers with 19 on the strength of four 3-pointers in a first half Chaffey finished with a 34-27 lead. Sampson made 5 of 6 attempts from beyond the arc and shot 7 of 15 from the field.
Jacko, however, took the most high-percentage shots of the night.
The 6-foot-8 sophomore, who had 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, put together a torrid stretch of four dunks in six trips down the floor during the second half. He was fouled in the act of two dunks and one was disallowed because of an offensive foul, but he capped the run with a thunderous alley-oop that gave Chaffey a 46-39 lead with 16:10 remaining in the game.
"He had some serious finishes," Klein said. "He's been doing it all year. He's probably the best big man we've had since I've been here."
PCC's points didn't come in quite as dramatic fashion, but it never trailed by more than nine points.
Taj Spencer, who finished with a game-high 25 points and 14 rebounds, tied the score at 59 with a putback at the 6:50 mark of the second half to finish a 12-5 PCC run.
The difference in the game was a 7-2 run by Chaffey that included a contested reverse dunk by Jacko off a steal and assist from Breejae Flonnoy and two free throws by the big man before Gilliam took over down the stretch.
"We want a ring," Klein said. "We want to get to 30 wins. We're going to have to believe in each other and everybody is going to have to have everybody else's back, but we can do it."