Men’s basketball: Vanguard crushes La Verne

Amara Aguilar

COSTA MESA - Sometimes, a big lead can be bad.

Not that the Vanguard University men’s basketball team minded having

one against the University of La Verne (3-5) for most of Friday’s 94-74

nonconference victory at the Pit.

The Lions (4-7) led by as many as 26 points in the second half, but

Vanguard Coach Stephen French wasn’t exactly thrilled.

“When you are up on a team it’s hard to keep your focus,” French said.

“It’s hard to keep your intensity. The good teams do that and we really

didn’t do a good job with that tonight. We need to play at a certain

level, regardless of how the other team is playing.”

The Lions came on strong in the first half, going on a 30-7 run and

scoring 15 straight points within a five-minute span to take a 48-32

halftime lead.

Vanguard kept the pressure on in the second half, going on an 11-2 run

to take a 63-42 lead with 14:11 left in the game.

Damion Morbley, who did not play in the Lions’ last game because of a

team violation, capped the run with a steal and slam dunk on a breakaway

to add some momentum for Vanguard.

La Verne’s Robbie Leark (24 points) answered with a two-pointer, but

Garid Beeler sank a three-pointer and Morbley and Josh Pierson added

two-pointers to give the Lions their biggest lead of the game, 70-44,

with 12:53 left in the second half.

The Leopards would not go down without a fight. La Verne went on a

13-2 run to come within 11 points of Vanguard. Marc McCoy hit two free

throws with 4:48 left to cap the Leopards’ rally and make the score,

82-71.

“We had a lot more talent than they did, but they kept coming back and

coming back and playing hard and I have a lot of respect for that and

that’s what we want to do,” French said.

Vanguard ended the game strong, scoring the last eight points of the

contest. Fittingly, Shane McKim scored the last two points of the game

with five seconds left.

McKim led the Lions with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Also chipping in

offensively was Morbley, who despite having stitches in his index finger

on his shooting hand, piled up 23 points and 12 rebounds.

Also contributing to the Lions’ win were Ian Boys (10 points, six

rebounds), Beeler (10 points), Leviticus Williamson (seven points, seven

rebounds) and Tommy Stankan (seven points).

“I see a guy like Tommy Stankan and he comes out here and is diving on

the floor and moving his feet and running the floor and to me that’s what

college basketball should be about,” French said.

In addition to Stankan’s play, French commended Vanguard’s rebounding

ability, but added that it could have been better. The Lions outrebounded

the Leopards, 49-41. In the first half, the Lions went strong to the net

and grabbed 31 boards while La Verne had 20 rebounds.

“(Rebounding) was a strength. It should have been even more of a

strength,” French said. “I am happy we got rebounds, but mostly we got

rebounds because we were bigger and more athletic and we just jumped

higher and you are never satisfied with that as a coach because if we

would have put a body on somebody and boxed out we could have got even

more rebounds.”

Turnovers were another aspect French would like to see his team

improve on. Vanguard made 18 turnovers while La Verne made 16.

“We had a lot of turnovers that weren’t forced,” French said. “We just

made bad decisions. That’s an area that we’ve struggled with all year

long and we need to improve in.”