With nine or 10 players seeing playing time, a Titan must be ready when coach Brad Smith sends him into a game.
On Wednesday, Dec. 14, Cody Brewer was ready.
The senior guard came off the bench and swished four, threepointers in leading the Titans to a 68-63 victory over the visiting Yucaipa Thunderbirds.
Brewer, whose 12 points all came from beyond the arc, has been in the Titans’ basketball program since his freshman year. He downplayed his role in the win, which gives the Titans a 7-2 record. Instead spreading the credit around to his teammates.
“It’s not me in particular we’re looking for,” Brewer said. “We just hit the open guy and hit shots. Tyler (Major), David (Walker) and Elijah (Johnson) drive to the basket, suck in the defense, and kick the ball out to the open shooter.”
Brewer wasn’t alone in connecting from long range. The Titans sank 15 treys, accounting for 45 of the Titan’s 68 points. Johnson sank six treys, all of which accounted for his game-high 18 points. And Marcus Porter had fi ve treys – three of them critical in the fi rst quarter that helped give Tahquitz an 18-13 lead at the end of the quarter.
The Titans’ roster has eight of its 11 players listed as guards. And they’re all capable of sinking longrange shots.
“We have a lot of shooters,” said coach Smith. “A lot of times, teams will focus on one or two of our (shooters) and it’s the third guy that gets the wide open look. Cody’s got all the confi dence in the world. He stepped up tonight and was ready. He knocked down some big shots.”
And all those big shots were needed as the stubborn Thunderbirds (4-3) refused to fold. The Titans jumped out to a 10-point lead early in the first quarter, had the momentum, and appeared on the brink of a rout. But at the half, Yucaipa had battled back for a 26-26 draw.
Behind the clutch shooting of Daylin Billingsley (18 points) and Spencer Klatt (14 points), the Thunderbirds engaged the Titans in a seesaw shootout that saw the lead change 11 times.
Tahquitz held leads as much as 11 points, but had trouble putting away Yucaipa.
“They started moving the ball and getting easy shots,” Smith said. “We couldn’t squeeze the rebounds and we missed some open shots we normally make. That gave them the opportunity to come back and make a game of it.”
And the game was still in doubt in the fourth quarter.
With 6:10 left to play, Yucaipa held a 52-51 lead on Spencer Klatt’s basket underneath. But from there on out, the Titans took control. Porter and Brewer sank back-to-back treys that ignited a 17-5 run, and power forward Nick Pete (11 points) ended the run with a slam dunk that sent the Titans’ gymnasium into a frenzy.
“Nick really picked it up in the second half,” Smith said, adding that the 6’7” freshman had a monster game in a recent 79-76 loss to Big Bear (8-1) with 31 points, 24 rebounds, and 7 blocked shots.
Along with the 17-5 run, a change in defensive strategy also helped put the Thunderbirds away.
“We switched from a 1-2-2 to a 2-3 zone to keep them off balance and close out on their shooters,” Smith said. “We got some defl ections and got them to take some tough shots and that was pretty much the key to the game.”
The Titans will take some time off over the holiday season and return to action in the Leon Davis Classic Tournament in La Habra from Dec. 26 to 30. Their next home game is Jan. 4 against Temecula Valley, and on Jan. 10 Tahquitz begins the Mountain Pass League at San Jacinto.
