Story by Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director

College of the Canyons returned to the court for the first time in three weeks on Wednesday, suffering an 81-73 road loss at the hands of Glendale College in a contest that officially started Western State Conference (WSC), South Division play for the Cougars Men’s Basketball team.

Canyons, which was playing with a seven-man rotation, built a 40-30 lead in the opening half but couldn’t keep pace down the stretch as the Vaqueros exploded for 51 points in the second half.

Andrew Henderson led COC with 19 points and Quincy Arms was next with 15. Dylan Griffin added 11 points off the bench.

Jimmy Galgano topped the Cougars with 12 rebounds, while Henderson and Zion Caston both finished with eight boards.

Caden Arnold posted game-highs with seven assists, four steals and three blocks for the Cougars, to go with eight points.

Glendale was paced by Joel Finney’s 26 points on a 10-of-17 shooting night. Vaquero starters Christian Finney and Julian Dixon ended with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

Canyons (8-5, 0-1) has been forced to deal with a flurry of COVID-19 related cancellations and postponements in recent weeks. COC was unable to host its annual Cougar Holiday Classic Tournament at the end of December, then had to postpone its first two conference contests during the first week of January.

Wednesday’s game vs. Glendale (9-7, 1-1), originally scheduled for Jan. 15, was moved up on the schedule in order to accommodate future rescheduling dates.

Instead, Canyons will next host Antelope Valley College on Saturday, Jan. 15 at 5 p.m. in the Cougar Cage.

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 or visit https://cocathletics.com/sports.