Men’s basketball: College of Marin’s postseason return spoiled by Cañada
By Steve Hermanos
IJ correspondent
The College of Marin basketball team’s 11-year playoff absence ended with a scintillating game at their home court in Kentfield against Cañada that brought fans to their feet multiple times as the teams battled down the stretch on Wednesday night.
Ultimately, COM’s feel-good story lasted just the one chapter as the No. 15 Mariners fell to No. 18 Cañada 79-74 in the first round of the 3C2A playoffs.
“It’s bittersweet. It stings,” COM coach LyRyan Russell said. “It wasn’t necessarily anything Cañada was doing that was effective. It was that our guys have to learn to play at another level. One level at a time. The 50/50 balls — we didn’t get enough of those.”
COM (19-10), which trailed 30-29 at the break, fell behind by as many as nine points midway through the second half. The Mariners put together a rally and took their first lead of the second half at 62-59 on a 3-pointer by Jahmai Jones with 5 minutes, 41 seconds left in the game.
Cañada’s Omer Sukur answered with a drive, getting fouled, and the Colts (13-16) went on a run to push their lead back up to 69-65.
COM’s Jerone Williams made an acrobatic scoop shot off the glass to bring his team back to within 69-67. K’Hamani Olivacce hit clutch free throws to again bring COM back to within 71-69, with 1:39 left. Jones buried another 3-pointer to tie the score at 72-72 with a little over a minute to play, igniting the crowd.
The teams exchanged turnovers inside the final minute with the Colts holding a 73-72 advantage. Olivier Borgol, COM’s leading scorer on the season at 19.1 points per game, had a look to put COM back in front but his jump shot missed and the Mariners opted to begin fouling intentionally to extend the game.
Justin Moore made a pair of free throws, extending Cañada’s lead to 75-72. But COM had one more good opportunity to tie the game.
Jones lofted up another 3-pointer and was fouled hard on the shot. Jones went to the line needing all three free throws to tie in the final seconds. The first free throw clanked off the rim.
But Jones hit the next two, bringing the score to 75-74. With 1.2 seconds left, Moore made two more free throws extending the Colts’ lead to 77-74. COM committed a turnover on the ensuing play and Cañada made two more foul shots for the final margin.
“That’s the most exciting the gym’s been in 11 years,” COM Athletic Department employee Noah Friedman said. “The COM crowd felt the rush of a great game.”
Borgol, a 6-foot, 8-inch sophomore from Berlin, Germany, finished with a game-high 25 points, including going 12-for-15 from the free-throw line in the second half. Jones scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half. Jerone Williams finished with 14 points and Olivacce scored nine.
Shawn Acosta paced the Colts with 19 points.
The defeat brought an end to a season that represented a major turnaround for the Mariners. The team’s 19 victories this season were more than they totaled in the previous two years combined. COM went 6-20 last season and 11-17 the year prior.
Most importantly, the Mariners made it back to the postseason for the first time since 2015, when the program was embroiled in controversy after then-coach David Granucci and his family were found to have improperly financed players’ tuition, rent, food, textbooks and more. The program was sanctioned by the 3C2A with an array of crippling penalties, including a postseason ban, and the eradication of 50 victories and a conference championship. Tonight’s game, though a loss, seemed like a cathartic expungement of 2015’s controversy.
“Hopefully this playoff appearance begins to attract local Marin high school players, and they’ll give COM a chance (to recruit them),” Russell said.
Confidence around the program is high that the Mariners can make trips to the postseason a regular occurrence going forward.
“We’ve built a special community,” COM athletic director Ryan Byrne said. “This isn’t a one-off year. We’re going to the postseason every year.”