EL CAJON, Calif. – The San Diego Christian College Hawks continued their run of great play, felling the Menlo College Oaks 71-63 on Thursday evening at home. The victory marks SDCC's third straight in the GSAC.
In the early going, the Hawks struggled to keep pace with the Oaks and found themselves down by 11 with just over nine minutes played in the game. The tide began to change, however, immediately following an authoritative dunk by senior forward, Jermaine Camacho-Small on the next play. From there on out, San Diego Christian would outscore Menlo 22-8 in the half. Camacho-Small would take the Hawks into the team room with a 3-point halftime lead after draining a final three-pointer.
The second half would be all San Diego Christian. Continually rotating his lineup, Coach Dwayne Cosby kept Menlo guessing. The Hawks would never trail in the final period, and five different players would reach double digits. Camacho-Small would lead SDCC scorers with 15 points. Sophomore, Josh O'Campo, and senior, JaMario Harris would each put in 13 apiece. Hometown legend, Kyle Ruiz ran up 11, and the Hawk's big man, Bryson Becker, would add 10 more.
Coach Cosby had much to say about the team's performance, "Tonight we had a gratifying win against a top-30 program. Menlo is extremely well-coached. Coach Rooney, his brother, and his father are basketball royalty in NorCal. He has all the components to make a run in Kansas City; bigs that are physical and skilled, and guards that can break you down off the dribble or shoot it from deep.
We knew that we couldn't take everything away from Menlo, but there was one area that we wanted to try to disrupt and it proved to be effective. Offensively our Achilles heel has been executing with continuity for 40 minutes. Tonight, we were probably at about 32 minutes of good play. During film study, we saw Menlo jump on ACU with an 8-0 run to start the game. They did the same with Ottawa. Falling behind 22-11 was not the start we envisioned, but we ended up making up for our slow start."
The praise for his men continued, "I cannot state enough how proud I am of my guys. Past teams might have packed it in. Beginning four minutes into the season, we have had to deal with constant injuries, intelligibility, and sickness. It has been a year of spiritual growth. Tonight, we received huge contributions from our guards. I really challenged them in the Master's game. For Elijah Jackson to have 5 assists and 0 turnovers and lead us in rebounding, is the epitome of servant leadership. Kyle Ruiz and Josh O'Campo have been playing at an all-time high, extending opposing defenses with their range, but today's hero was Senior, Jamario Harris! His efficiency and confidence were impressive to watch tonight. I went from coaching to spectating! It was a very memorable performance by Mr. Harris tonight!"
Cosby concluded, "We will shift gears and prepare for another tough battle on Saturday versus a very dynamic William Jessup program. Day by day, we try to keep the main thing, the MAIN THING! Win, lose or draw, God gets the glory! It is a great day to be a Hawk!"
UP NEXT
The Hawks host the #4 William Jessup Warriors on Saturday, January 22 at San Diego Mesa College. Tipoff is set for 2 pm.