Huskies Pull Away in Second Half for 11th Straight Win

by Cerwin D Haynes

With a capacity crowd on hand, East LA College men's basketball fought off a pesky LA Southwest College Cougars' team. Pulling away in the second half, the Huskies (14-2) secured their 11th straight win in beating the Cougars (7-8) 92-75.

Sophomore G Noel Scott led all players with 22 points and 14 rebounds, both season highs. He scored 15 in the first half to steady the Huskies as they withstood a blistering hot start by Southwest. Inside the first 11 minutes of play, the Cougars hit 10 of the first 14 shots from the field including four made three-pointers, taking a 27-17 lead with 11:13 to go. The Pack would then find their footing to trim down the deficit, and a Gregory Melvin free throw gave them their first lead, 33-32, with 5:36 left in the half. The teams would trade baskets for the rest of the half, with ELAC taking a four point lead into halftime, 47-43.

The second half saw the home Green steadily add more distance to their lead. Reserve freshman G Donjae Lindsey scored five points in the span of 20 seconds - a three-ball, following by Scott stealing the ball from LASC's Kendall Collins and then passing ahead to Lindsey for the open layup on the fast break - giving East their first double-digit lead of the game, 64-53, with 13 minutes left. The Huskies would ultimately stretch the lead to 20, 90-70, on an Eli Cofield free throw with 1:36 left.

HUSKY BITS

• Guards Cory Cofield and Lindsey each scored 14 points.
• Reserve F Gregory Melvin, who's been seeing more minutes off the bench in recent games, had 10 points, six rebounds, three steals and 3 assists along with a block.
• Sophomore F Christian Oliver made his second straight start for injured F JT Langston. He tallied six points and eight rebounds while battling foul trouble.
• The Huskies had 21 assists on 36 made baskets. Sophomore G Jon Sanders had six assists and Noel had five.
• ELAC outrebounded Southwest 49-32.
• The Cougars were led by G Dondre Watson with 19 points, 11 rebounds (six offensive) and five blocked shots.

UP NEXT:

ELAC embarks on a three-game road trip over the next week and a half. The first stop will be a stiff test for the Green as the 11th ranked Seahawks of LA Harbor lie in wait on Wednesday, January 11th. Tipoff at 7pm in Wilmington.