MARAUDER MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM GETS PLAYOFF VICTORY AGAINST SAN DIEGO CITY

Photo by David Nurse

LANCASTER - It wasn't easy, but the Marauder men's basketball team earned a hard-fought 87-83 victory over visiting San Diego City College in the second round of the Southern California Regional playoffs, Friday night at Marauder Gymnasium.

Cory Dollarhide, who has been a spark off the bench all season for No. 7 AVC, scored a team-high 19 points including three 3-pointers on 7-of-11 shooting. All four players that scored in double figures came off the bench for the Marauders including Chris Martin (14 points), Kenneth Moffett (11 points) and Izayah Doyle (10 points). AVC's bench outscored SDCC, 60-31.

The Marauders were facing a disadvantage as the Knights sported two 7-footers in Alex Wilbourn and Leonard.

The game plan was simple: get out and run.

It worked as AVC built a 42-31 lead at halftime. The Marauders held SDCC without a field goal for a span of 11 minutes in the first half. All the points by the Knights came via the free throw which help keep them considerably close.

"I thought we did a good job executing and we were able to put two halves together," Moffett said. "It feels good. This is a nice way to start the playoffs. We knew they had a size advantage, but they couldn't match our speed."

SDCC, which had its winning streak snapped at nine games, chipped away at AVC's lead midway through the second half. It got as close as two points but could never get any closer or even take the lead.

A field goal by Moffett with 8:43 remaining in the second half kept the Marauders are arm's length with a 64-57 lead. Each time the Knights tried to make a run, AVC was there to answer any attempted comeback. Late free throw shooting by the Marauders sealed the victory.

"This was a good first game for us. We wanted to run and we were able to get a couple of easy buckets in transition," Martin said. "This is a great win for us especially at home."

AVC now awaits the winner of No. 2 San Bernardino Valley College and No. 18 Citrus College, both teams which the Marauders have defeated this season. Should the Wolverines win, AVC would travel to San Bernardino, but should the Owls play spoiler, the Marauders would host Wednesday night's game where they are 11-0 this season.