SOPHOMORES LEAD PANTHERS IN CHARGE AGAINST SANTIAGO CANYON

Sophomores Manu Oulai, Darren Williams, and Aaron Johnson lead the Panthers Wednesday as they hosted Santiago Canyon in the first of four in-a-row games at home for Chaffey.  Oulai hit a career high 30 points against the Hawks.  All three standouts are Top 20 state leaders with Oulai #1 in the state in rebounding averaging 12.2/game.  Against SCS, the trio combined to give Chaffey 57 of the team's 78 points scored.

The Panthers came up short Wednesday trailing at the start 9-0.  After a quick timeout, the team was on the board with a series of freethrows by Johnson.  The Panthers went on to close the gap and take the lead in what became a back-and-forth battle of the first half that closed with SCC up 47-45 at the break.  That momentum continued until the final minutes of play when the Hawks broke away to open a five point lead, eventually taking the game 86-78.

"This was a heavyweight battle between two potential state Elite 8 teams," commented Head Coach Jeff Klein.  

"We set out to be more physical and win the rebounding battle and did so with 45 total rebounds. We just needed to be more efficient and execute our offense better down the stretch."

This week, we play two potential playoff teams: Canyons Wednesday and undefeated, defending state champion Fullerton on Friday.  "Canyons is very disciplined and runs great half-court offense that we will need to defend. Fullerton is #1 in the state giving up 57.6 ppg while scoring 77.4 ppg. The Panthers will need to be disciplined and play for the full 40 minutes."  Both games will be played at 5pm in the Sports Center.