College of the Canyons was able to overcome a six-point halftime deficit to pick up an important 80-65 conference victory vs. Santa Monica College during Saturday’s ‘Gold Rush’ game at the Cougar Cage.

Canyons (12-14, 2-4) was forced to play without key contributor Alex Sanchez, but had three players score in double digits vs. the Corsairs (12-13, 4-3).

Sophomore Garrett Mike and freshman Michael Kalu led the way for the Cougars scoring 24 and 21 points, respectively.

Mike was 8-of-14 from the field and also recorded seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks.

Kalu finished the evening 8-of-15, including 4-of-8 from downtown. He also had five rebounds in the game.

Freshman guard Jacob Lilley had a nice all around performance, finishing with 12 rebounds, 12 assists and six points.

COC freshman Garrett Harding scored 14 points and pulled down five rebounds to give head coach Howard Fisher’s team a boost off the bench.

The Cougars trailed by 11 points with just under 2:30 to play in the first half before putting together a 9-4 run that included five points from Kalu.

The second half was all Canyons, with the Cougars shooting a combined 47.2 percent from the field compared to a paltry mark of 26.5 percent for the Corsairs.

COC capitalized on Santa Monica’s mistakes, scoring 20 points off the Corsairs’ 14 turnovers. Canyons also dominated in the paint, outscoring SMC 40-28 in that category.

The Cougars were aided in the win by a vocal fan base which turned out to support COC in its ‘Gold Rush’ game, in which the first 75 fans in attendance received a special COC men’s basketball t-shirt.

With two regular sesson games remaining on the schedule Canyons now sits in a three-way tie with West L.A. College and L.A. Pierce for third place in the Western State Conference (WSC), South division. Bakersfield sits atop the division standings followed by second place Santa Monica.

COC will next travel to Bakersfield College on Wednesday, Feb. 15. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Canyons will conclude the regular season at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, vs. West L.A.

— Story and photos by Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information