COD Men’s Basketball: Allen scores 40 in hard loss to the Jets, 99-93

COD (1-19; 0-7) had four of five starters score in double figures, but freshman Andre Allen exploded for the largest individual point total of the season, dropping 40 points, including going 6 of 8 from 3-point range, but the Roadrunners fell just short of the upset of the Miramar Jets (18-7; 5-2), 99-93.

Desert had a two man bench as sophomore guard Philippe Salawa (Fontana AB Miller) sat out his second straight game due to an injury and the second best team in the Conference got out to a hot start, but the Roadrunners took the lead for the first time in the game on an Allen three pointer, taking an 11-10 lead with 14:52 left in the first half.

Desert would go on a 7-3 run to close out the first half, narrowing the gap to 45-38 at the break. Allen would score 19 of his 40 points in the first half alone.

Unfortunately, the Jets would open the second half on a 12-0 run, to give Miramar a 57-38 lead with 17:16 left in the game, but the Roadrunners never backed down and started to whittle that lead down. Then with 8:38 left in the game, Desert took the next four minutes and went on a 17-5 run, accented by huge three-point shots from freshman starting forward Arion Stevenson (Moreno Valley Canyon Springs), sophomore starting guard Weijie Zhang (Carlsbad Army-Navy) and of course Allen.

With 1:50 left, Allen hit his sixth three-point shot of the night, to get the Roadrunners to within three-points, 93-90, but alas that would be as close as Desert would get in the game.

Allen not only grabbed 40 points on 12 of 20 shooting, but he also led the team in assists, with nine and was 10 of 12 from the free throw line. Stevenson had his second double-double of the season, ironically against these same Jets at Miramar on January 17th, as he collected 18 points, on 7 of 20 shooting, and 12 total rebounds.

Freshman starting guard DeJon Talbert (Aurora (IL) East) had his best point total of the season, with a 19 point performance, on 6 of 11 shooting and going 7 of 8 from the charity stripe. Talbert also led the team in steals with two and joined Stevenson in leading the team in blocks with two each.

Zhang had his best game since December 30, 2017 as he added 12 huge points on 5 of 11 shooting.

Next home game for College of the Desert Men's Basketball will be February 13th at 5p, where they will continue Pacific Coast Athletic Conference-North Division (PCAC-North) against the Mt. San Jacinto Eagles. If you are unable to make the game in person, follow the action live at CODathletics.com. Hope to see you there.

Photo by Rodrigo Pena (rigopena@yahoo.com)
Information, Photos & Story provided by COD Sports Information.