Toros Men Win on Last-Second Three-Point Basket, Beat Grand Canyon 73-71
Justin Goree's late basket topples first place Grand Canyon in exciting CCAA game
January 11, 2003

Complete Box Score

CARSON, Calif.-Senior forward Justin Goree's (Fairfield, CA) three-point basket with three seconds left in the game propelled Cal State Dominguez Hills to an exciting 73-71 win over Grand Canyon University in California Collegiate Athletic Association action Saturday night in the Torodome.

Cal State Dominguez Hills improves to 2-4 in CCAA play and 4-7 overall. Grand Canyon, who came into the game atop the league standings, drops to 6-5 and 4-2 in conference play.

Grand Canyon took a 12-point lead into halftime, 41-29, thanks in part to 11 first-half point by forward Del Somers. The Antelopes came out in the second period and opened up an 18-point lead with 16:46 left after a steal and fast-break layup by Dante Garner making it 51-33. But CSUDH answered in a big way with a 17-3 run over the following six minutes capped by a three-point play from forward Lamar Lawrence (Bishop Montgomery HS) trimming the Antelope lead to 54-50 with 10:59 left.

GCU was able to answer building the lead back to double digits five different times over the next six minutes. But Cal State Dominguez Hills, coming off a heartbreaking loss to UC San Diego last night, wouldn't fold. With the Antelopes holding a 70-60 lead with 4:38 left, the Toros defense held the visitors to one point while it reeled off 13 points, including three 3-point baskets by Goree to go on for the improbable victory.

Down 71-70, the Toros came out of a timeout with 21 ticks left on the clock. Guard Geovanny Aispuro (LB Jordan HS) found Goree who connected from long range with a man in his face for the game-winning shot with three seconds remaining. Grand Canyon did get a late shot off, but Garrett Brown's 3-point shot from the left wing went long at the buzzer.

The Toros were hot in the second half shooting 67% from the field (16-24) while holding Canyon to 37% (10-27). One of the biggest factors tonight was CSUDH's domination on the boards outrebounding the Antelopes 46-21. The Toros grabbed a total of 15 on the offensive glass alone.

Goree led Cal State Dominguez Hills with 18 points on the night, 14 of them coming in the second half, while going 7-13 from the field including 4-6 from the 3-point stripe. Freshman center Ryan Meilleur (Artesia HS) followed with 17 points on 7-11 shooting and tied with a game-high eight rebounds. Lawrence came off the bench to spark the Toros with 11 points in 15 minutes while senior Michael Crawford (Pacoima/Simi Valley HS) poured in 12 on 6-8 shooting. Senior Andre' Brown tied Meilleur with a game-high eight rebounds.

Somers' 19 points and six boards led Grand Canyon. Jabari Riggins knocked in 13 points while Sean Harris and John Janssen contributed with 11 and 10 points each. Janssen also tied for the team lead with six rebounds.

CSUDH is back in league action next weekend hosting San Francisco State on Friday, January 17 at 7:30 p.m.