Cougars Split Games at 9th Annual 'Clash at Canyons'

The College of the Canyons men's basketball team kicked off the 2016-17 season in winning fashion before eventually finishing as runner-up at the ninth annual 'Clash at Canyons' tournament held Nov. 4-5 in the Cougar Cage.

Canyons (1-1) edged Glendale College (1-1) 79-74 in the opener of the four-team tourney, before falling to No. 8 East Los Angeles College 87-84 on Sunday.

COC forward Jason Horosny finished the contest vs. Glendale 6-of-10 from the field, including a perfect 4-of-4 mark from behind the arc for a team-high 18 points.

Freshman Michael Kalu and sophomore Garrett Mike also gave the Cougars an offensive boost with 17 and 16 points, respectively.

Sophomore guard Alex Sanchez contributed 11 points off the bench and freshman Garrett Harding chipped in with 10 points after going 3-of-4 from downtown. Austin Greenly had a team-high six rebounds in the game.

As a team, Canyons shot 46.3 percent from the field and 52 percent from three-point territory.

Earlier in the day, East L.A (2-0) posted a 91-74 victory over Oxnard College (0-2) to set up a Sunday matchup with the Cougars. Despite another fine shooting performance, COC came up just short in a game that went down to the final buzzer.

Kalu finished with a game-high 29 points on an 11-of-17 shooting performance that included five three-pointers — good enough to earn All-Tournament Team honors.

Horosny also had another big game for the Cougars, this time coming off the bench to finish with 21 points, five rebounds and four assists. Freshman Jacob Lilley recorded a game-high eight assists.

The Cougars will next compete at the Jonathan Wallace Memorial Basketball Tournament hosted by Ohlone College Nov. 11-13.

—Story and photos by Jesse Munoz/COC Sports Information