Huskies Men’s Basketball Wins 95-64 at Pasadena City College

PASADENA, CA — The East Los Angeles College men’s basketball team won its second straight SCC North Division road game with a 95-64 victory over Pasadena City College at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium.

The No. 11 state-ranked Huskies (20-5, 5-1) remain in first place in the South Coast Conference North Division and are tied with Mt. San Antonio College (12-11, 5-1), who stunned No. 18 Chaffey College (16-9, 4-2) 58-53 tonight in the Panthers den.

ELAC hosts the Mt. SAC Mounties on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. in a game that could determine the conference champion. This is the sixth straight year that the Huskies and Mt. SAC meet in the second round of conference play with the title on the line.

ELAC handed Pasadena its eighth-straight loss, but Pasadena kept it close during the first half of play. After leading 7-6 four minutes into the game, ELAC went on a 10-0 run that culminated with a layup from freshman guard Darius Henderson (Taft High School). The Huskies led 17-6 at midpoint of the first half.

Pasadena followed with a 10-1 that ended with Pasadena freshman guard Ross Lee (Burbank Burroughs HS) hitting a 3-point jump shot that brought the house down. With 5:48 left in the half, ELAC’s lead was trimmed to 18-16. A 9-0 ELAC run ensued with Henderson connecting on a 3-point jump shot, which led the Huskies to a 38-22 lead at the break.

In the second half, it was just a case of bringing the victory home and surviving any push from the Lancers. ELAC had an edge in shooting 61.5% to 54.2% and rebounds 16-11. Also in the second half, the Huskies were a strong 8-of-13 (61.5%) outside the arc while protecting the lead.

During the game, the Huskies outscored Pasadena in the paint 34-26 and from the bench 35-23. The Huskies unselfish play resulted in more than doubling assists, 15-6. The Huskies gained six points on fast break points and six points at the charity stripe hitting 85% (17-of-20) to 55% (11-of-20) for Pasadena.

ELAC sophomore forward Roderick Williams (Price HS) scored a game-high 24 points and had a game-high nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Frank Bertz (Sultana HS) scored 18 points for the Huskies and swished six treys.

Henderson scored 14 points and added 4-of-6 three-point shots. Freshman forward Jacob Tryon (Great Oak HS) scored 11 points for the Huskies and had a game-high five blocked shots. Tryon leads the conference with an average of 2.3 blocked shots per game, which is 7th best in the state. Sophomore guard Robert Fuller (St. Bernard HS) finished with a game-high five assists and a game-high three steals.

Lee scored 13 points to lead the Lancers. Sophomore guard Kyle Mitchell (Inglewood HS), Pasadena’s leading scorer, scored 11 points. Freshman guard Josiah Woods (El Camino Real HS) also scored in double figures for Pasadena with 10 points. Freshman forward Ivan Egbunike led the Lancers in rebounds with eight.

In other SCC North play, Los Angeles Trade Tech College (7-13, 2-4) rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to defeat Rio Hondo College (5-16, 2-4) 58-55.

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

story submitted by Tadzio Garcia