By Brittain Kelly
In local sports, the Copper
Mountain College men’s basketball team was back in action Monday
evening for the first time following the Thanksgiving holiday. Copper
Mountain hosted the Rustlers of Golden West College, and won, 90-72.
In the first half, the Fighting Cacti seemed to still have a Turkey hangover from the 10 days they had off. Early miscues and a few sluggish plays made it evident that Copper Mountain College needed to shake off the rust. Late in the first half, emphatic play from local redshirt freshman Calvin Hollins helped shift the momentum for the Cacti. By halftime CMC seemed to be awoken.
After Copper Mountain started clicking, they sent Golden West into the locker room on their heels, barely holding on to the lead 37-36 at the break.
Redshirt sophomore Demarcus King led the Cacti on their second half run, draining multiple three-pointers to extend CMC’s lead to double digits.
The Fighting Cacti did not look back as they went on to win 90-72.
King had a career high 15 points,
netting four three-pointers in his performance.
Collectively it
was a balanced attack for CMC on Monday. Standout sophomore Dillion
Voyles led CMC with 19 points. Hyking Brisbon continued to play like
“a man amongst boys,” with another dominant performance, scoring
18 points and snatching 14 rebounds. Sophomore guard Will Valsien
added 10 points and Copper Mountain Newcomer Marc Hall chipped in 10
points and four assists for the Cacti.
CMC men’s
team improved to 4-3 on the young season and look forward to gaining
a few more big wins this week as they travel to Riverside Community
College to take on three of the state’s top teams during a
three-day tournament.
Wednesday, they will play Saddleback
college, with tip-off at 5 p.m. at Riverside Community
College.
Thursday the men will play Cerritos College at 3 p.m.
Saturday Copper Mountain College will hold a rematch against East LA
college. Tip-off is at noon.
“One thing is for sure and two
things are for certain.” First-year head Coach Walter Parham is
doing a tremendous job with his team so far this season and the CMC
men’s basketball team will only keep getting better. Hold on tight
Cacti fans! Repping the Morongo Basin area with pride, it looks like
the Fighting Cacti Of Copper Mountain College are gonna take us on an
exciting ride.
