AWC wins in overtime
Matador fans got their money's worth Tuesday as AWC defeated Glendale 80-78 in overtime.
Tanner Clayton led the AWC scoring effort with 22 points, but it was Aaseem Dixon and Marvin Whitt who came up big in the extra five minutes, sinking clutch 3-pointers to put the game out of reach.
The Matadors were 0 for 6 from beyond the 3-point line in the second half, but the sophomore guards got it done when it counted.
“I wanted them to shoot open shots,” said AWC head coach Charles Harral. “They're our most consistent perimeter shooters and they've got to continue to shoot open shots. When they make them we're pretty good, and then we miss them we're not quite as good.”
AWC was up by as many as 10 points in the second half and looked to be running away with the game, but some poor play down the stretch let the Gauchos crawl back into the game to force overtime.
“I didn't think we made some great decisions downs the stretch,” Harral said. “The last six minutes I thought we gave up some uncontested drives to the basket. I was a little disappointed in that, but I thought we kind of gutted it out in the end.”
Harral was impressed with Clayton's performance, but was disappointed by his centers tonight.
“Tanner I thought played well but we didn't have any production out of our (center position) offensively tonight,” he said. “We've got to get maybe 10 points out of the five position if we're going to beat good teams consistently. And for us not to score ever down there causes us problems. Those guys have to learn when to take good shots.”
Ivan Uribe had only two points and starter Carlos Perez had zero on the night.
Glendale had the last possesion of the game and almost scored a three-pointer which would have given them the win. For Clayton and Perez's sake, it didn't go in.
“Let's just say if that guy made the three when Tanner left his feet, the team would still be in the locker room,” Harral said with a smile. “Fortunately for Tanner he missed. Carlos forgot to box out and they missed two tip ins for Carlos' sake. So Tanner and Carlos get a pass tonight.”
Up next the Matadors will travel to Thatcher to take on Eastern Arizona who lost to Cochise 96-85, which keeps Cochise a half game ahead of AWC.
“Going on the road for a hostile environment it's always hard to play over there,” Harral said. “I'm just glad we're winning at home. We're going to try to go on the road and see what we can get one on Saturday.”
The Matadors are currently riding a six-game win streak, the last five of which have been at home.
