By Brandon Johnson/COC Sports Information

The host College of the Canyons men’s basketball team got off to a blistering start Wednesday night against first-place L.A. Pierce College and never looked back, leading wire-to-wire in a 90-79 victory.

Three Cougars (12-12, 3-2) scored 18 points as Michael Kalu, Anthony Simone, and Jude Agbasi accomplished that feat. In addition, Frankie Campbell posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

COC jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead, highlighted by three-pointers from Kalu and Jacob Lilley. However, Pierce responded with a 10-0 run of its own. The Cougars’ lead was trimmed to two on a triple from Christian uillory, but was quickly answered by Agbasi’s own three-pointer.

The lead for the Cougars grew back to 11 on back-to-back layups by Simone and ballooned to 15 on an Agbasi mid-range jumper.

Canyons entered halftime up 13 as they held a dominating 31-11 rebounding advantage.

The lead reached 15 in the second half when Kalu converted on a layup on a backdoor pass from Robert Moss.

However, the Brahmas responded once again and cut the lead down to just five on a three from Jordan Newt. It was the closest they would get the rest of the way as Kalu scored four straight points and Abgasi hit a triple to stretch the lead back to 17.

Pierce made one last push, using a 10-0 run to cut the lead to single digits. However, the Cougars put the game on ice for good with a Campbell layup.

With the win, the Cougars moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Western State Conference, South Division, just one game behind conference-leading Pierce College with just three contests remaining.

Here’s the box score.

Canyons will return to action on Saturday, Feb. 10 when they travel to face Santa Monica. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.

Stay up to date on all this season’s action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

— Photo by Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director (click here for more photos).