It was tale of two halves in Alameda on Tuesday evening. The first, was an evenly matched dogfight where neither Marin, nor the College of Alameda Cougars could gain any breathing room. The second half could not be more dislike the first, as the home team took it to the Mariners as they fell by 23 points 101-84.
The game was played at a breakneck speed for the entire first 20 minutes of play. The typically plodding Mariners were able to keep pace with the sprinters of Alameda, and trailed the Cougars by just one 45-44 at halftime.
Conditioning became the difference in the game in the second half as it remained at a similar furious pace. Alameda was able to continue at high speed, but Marin was not, and fell behind early in the second half before fading down the stretch. The game was a marathon played at a sprint's pace and the Mariners unfortunately finished second to Alameda. The final score of 104-81 was not indicative of the competitiveness of the game.
Marin was led in scoring by Freshman Eric Mireri who tallied 19 points, Derek Morgan had 18 and Garrick Sherrod added 15 points of his own. Alameda had six players score in double figures, led by DJ Ward who scored 24 points. Devin Rhoads had 21 points and 11 rebounds while Joshua Hamilton and Chiddy Golden each posted a double double for Alameda.
Marin is in the midst of four games in eight days. Game three of that stretch is Thursday, January 4th at 5:30 as the Mariners travel to Pittsburg to face the Los Medanos College Mustangs.