Yuba clips Falcons in OT
FAIRFIELD - Demetrius Young scored a game-high 38 points and carried the Yuba College men's basketball team to a 90-82 overtime victory Wednesday over host Solano in a Bay Valley Conference game.
Young scored six of Yuba's 10 points in overtime and pulled down four of his 12 boards in the extra period to give the 49ers a much-needed lift.
Solano's Isaiah Robinson hit a long 3-pointer with 12.7 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 80, and Yuba (11-6, 3-1) had an opportunity to win it on its ensuing possession, but turned the ball over.
The Falcons' Reggie Davis attempted a lay-up at the buzzer, but the shot rimmed out, forcing overtime.
Solano (4-18, 1-2) had been hot from the floor but went icy cold in overtime, hitting just two free throws and missing eight shot attempts.
Yuba, riding the momentum of a second-half comeback, hit four of its five shots from the floor and connected on 4 of 8 free throws to close out the victory.
The 49ers were lucky to be in the game after struggling early to maintain possession, knock down shots and keep Solano from driving inside for easy buckets. The Falcons went ahead by nine at the end of the first half and by 10 early in the second half.
“We've done this the last five games,” Yuba coach Doug Cornelius said. “We just seem to be giving up leads at the beginning of games and then we fight, fight, fight to get back in it.”
Once Yuba began making defensive stops and playing smart offensively, the Falcons' lead began to dwindle.
The 49ers used a 10-0 run midway through the second half to take the lead, 61-60, for the first time since being up 17-16 with 12:35 remaining in the first half.
Yuba went ahead by four, 75-71, with 4 minutes left in the game, but Solano battled back, using an easy lay-up to tie it at 75-all, then getting a steal and lay-up to later move within one, 78-77.
Two free throws from Aaron Garner gave Yuba a three-point edge, 80-77, but Robinson hit his long 3 with Mareceo Rutledge closely guarding for the tie.
“We're just not playing the way we should be playing right now,” Cornelius said. “We'll get through it; we're going to fight through it.”
Part of Yuba's woes may be a brutal early-season schedule. The 49ers play four games in four days this week and open at the Sonora tournament today.
“This is by far the hardest schedule ever and it's my fault,” Cornelius said. “To play 19 of our first 20 games on the road is ridiculous, plus we've played eight teams in the top 20 in the
state. This schedule is out of hand. So, if we can get out of this and hopefully get two or three wins this weekend, then we can start going home and away and we can start getting into our comfort zone. If we finish out of this first 20 with 13 or 14 wins, then we should be pretty strong down the rest of the stretch.”
Yuba returns home for the first time in nearly a month on Wednesday against Napa.
Young was an absolute terror, easily scoring buckets inside against a Solano defense that had no answer for him. The 6-foot-6 sophomore out of Sacramento scored six straight during Yuba's 10-0 run, including a spectacular fast-break dunk.
Young scored Yuba's final five points in overtime, and had 23 of his 38 in the second half and overtime.
Garner scored 21 for Yuba, and Mareceo Rutledge added 18.
Moses Keys led five Solano players in double figures with 16 points. Leroy Moore finished with 15, Ray Robinson added 12, Ahmed Khalfan had 11 and Isaiah Robinson scored 10.
Yuba shot just 39 percent from the field in the first half, and Solano hit 51 percent of its shots. The 49ers improved in the second half, knocking down 68 percent of their shots.
“I guess the shots were just going in,” Cornelius said. “I don't know if we were doing anything different. I think it was just the shots started going in.”
