ELAC men’s basketball stuns Mt. SAC 74-47
WALNUT, CA — If the No. 11 Southern Regional-ranked East Los Angeles College men’s basketball team had any hope of winning a SCC North championship this season, a win at conference leading No. 12 Mt. San Antonio College tonight was imperative.
Only one game separated the top four teams in the South Coast Conference North Division entering tonight’s game and a Husky loss would leave ELAC two games out of first place with four to play. Mt. SAC had just moved into a first place tie with No. 12 state-ranked Chaffey College on Wednesday with an 85-70 win.
East Los Angeles College continued its conference title run with a 74-47 win at Mt. SAC’s house, tonight.
The Huskies avenged an 81-67 loss to Mt. SAC on January 18, winning this time around at full strength. For the first time in a while, the Huskies sported a full team, finally getting through the holiday bug season.
ELAC adjusted to the return of their roster and controlled the tempo in the first half, something Mt. SAC did in their earlier win against the Huskies. ELAC led 32-23 at the half.
ELAC answered Mt. SAC’s second half comeback attempts with hot-handed offense, doubled with hands-in-your-face defense. The Huskies connected on 49.1 percent (25-of-51) of their 2-point baskets, just short of their state leading 50.9 percent average.
ELAC freshman forward Roderick Williams (Price High School), committed to the University of Texas at El Paso and, missing from the Huskies earlier meeting with Mt. SAC, scored a team-high 18 points. Williams had seven rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.
The ELAC bench more than doubled their scoring compared to the Jan. 18 loss. Sophomore guard Zeno Lake (Compton HS) scored 13 points from the Husky bench and had 10 rebounds. Lake had his sixth double double in seven games.
Other bench points came from sophomores, guard Chandler Redix (Cathedral HS) who scored 10 points (5 RBs, 7 assists, one blocked shot) and guard Jesus Zesati (St. John Bosco HS) who scored nine points from three treys. Also, forward Zavier Harris (Temecula HS) who scored two.
Sophomore guard Sequan Walker (LB Cabrillo HS) scored eight points. Two Huskies scored seven points each, sophomore forward Chima Wami (Corona Santiago HS) and freshman guard Frank Bertz (Sultana HS).
ELAC, 17-6 overall and 4-2 in the SCC North, knocked Mt. SAC (14-9, 4-2) out of first place. ELAC, Mt. SAC and LA Trade Tech College (13-10, 4-2) are in a logjam for second place, one game behind leader Chaffey (19-7, 5-1).
In other SCC North action tonight, LA Trade Tech won 85-63 vs. Pasadena City College (6-17, 1-5) and Chaffey got by Rio Hondo 90-81.
ELAC hosts three of its four remaining regular season games beginning with two next week. The Huskies host Rio Hondo on Wednesday at 5 p.m. and their crosstown rival LA Trade Tech on Friday, Feb. 10 at 5 p.m.
story submitted by Tadzio Garcia