ELAC Men’s Basketball Moves into First Place with Big Win

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA — The Huskies men’s basketball team created a three-way tie for first place in the conference with a 64-39 win at Chaffey College, which ended the Panthers five-game win streak.

In the biggest game of ranked teams in the state, anticipated to have big implications in the South Coast North Division title race, No. 11 ELAC improved to 19-5 overall and 4-1 in the conference. The Huskies moved into a tie for the SCC North lead with Chaffey (16-8, 4-1) and Mt. SAC (11-11, 4-1) at the end of the first round of conference play.

The Huskies came through with a team win in their most important game to date in front of the biggest crowd they’ve faced in an away game. They now control their own destiny to repeat as conference champions and win a third straight title and their fourth in five years.

Chaffey outscored ELAC in the second half 25-23, but did little to make a difference from ELAC’s 41-14 lead at the end of the first half. The Huskies received a lift from big plays of their defense, which helped control the game during the first half.

Although Chaffey sophomore forward Darrion Willies (Summit High School) had a team-high nine rebounds, the Huskies out-rebounded Chaffey 47-37. ELAC outshot the Panthers 37.0 % (20-of-54) to 21.1% (11-of-51).

Sophomore forward Roderick Williams (Price HS) scored a game-high 16 points, hauled in a game-high nine rebounds, had a game-high three assists and shot 85.7% at the line (6-of-7). Sophomore guard Frank Bertz (Sultana HS) scored 10 points and finished with six rebounds, four from the offensive glass.

Freshman forward Jacob Tryon (Great Oak HS) scored seven points and finished with seven rebounds. He slapped down a game-high three blocked shots for the Huskies. Bertz and freshman center Solomon Hunt (Upland HS) each had two blocked shots for the Huskies.

While the Huskies held Chaffey’s top scorer sophomore guard Tyler Ginyard (Diamond Bar HS) to seven points, freshman guard Isaiah McCullough (Damien HS) stepped up and led Chaffey with 11 points. Willies scored nine points for the Panthers and had three blocked shots that followed with a lot of noise from the Panther crowd. Ginyard came through with five rebounds, four from the offensive boards, which helped Chaffey to some second chance points.

In other SCC North play, Mt. San Antonio College edged Los Angeles Trade Tech College (6-13, 1-4) 73-66 and Rio Hondo College (5-15, 2-3) won 63-59 at Pasadena City College (8-14, 0-5).

Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index or on Facebook at ELAC Huskies Athletics (@elachuskiesathletics).

story submitted by Tadzio Garcia