ELAC Men’s Basketball Wins Third Straight Championship
WHITTIER, CA. — The East Los Angeles College men’s basketball team won its third straight South Coast Conference (North Division) title with a 94-64 convincing win over Rio Hondo College tonight.
ELAC won its fourth title in five years under six-year head coach John Mosley. The No. 11 state-ranked Huskies improve to 22-5 overall and 7-1 in the SCC North.
Rio Hondo stunned Chaffey College on Wednesday 77-60. The Rio Hondo shocker dropped then No. 18 Chaffey out of the state poll. ELAC did not take Rio Hondo lightly from the get go.
The Huskies outscored the Roadrunners 56-27 in the first half, which left little in doubt of an ELAC victory. ELAC outshot Rio Hondo, 58.2 percent (39-of-67) to 36.2% (21-of-58), but it was the tenacious Husky defense that controlled the game.
The Huskies outrebounded Rio Hondo 49-18 in total. ELAC rebounded the Roadrunners 20-8 off the offensive glass, which led to two-and-a-half more second chance point attempts. ELAC almost doubled the number of assists, 23-12. Five Huskies, each with the speed of an actual Roadrunner, totaled 10 assists to Rio Hondo’s two.
Four Huskies scored in double figures. Sophomore forward Roderick Williams (Price HS) led the Husky Pack with 26 points, and had a game-high three steals. Sophomore guard Frank Bertz (Sultana HS) scored 22 points, had eight rebounds, four assists and a game-high six treys.
Two freshmen Huskies each scored 10 points. Freshman forward Jacob Tryon (Great Oak HS) made it a double double with 10 rebounds and freshman center Solomon Hunt (Upland HS) added eight rebounds to his 10 points scored.
ELAC sophomore center Colin Bell (Santa Monica HS) added to his powerful defense eight points and six rebounds. Freshman guard Nick Hart (West Covina HS) scored eight points and had a game-high eight assists.
ELAC had six blocked shots, a game-high three from Tryon, two from Hunt and one from Bell. The Huskies average 4.6 blocked shots per game, which is sixth best in the state. Tryon averages 2.3 per game, which is individually the seventh best in the state.
Rio Hondo was led by sophomore guard Kenyatta Louder (LA Adventist Academy) who scored 26 points, freshman forward Anthony Rios (Whittier HS) who added 17 points and freshman guard Jonathan Martinez (Sonora HS) who finished with 12.
In other SCC North play, Pasadena City College (10-15, 2-6) won a 75-69 upset victory over Mt. San Antonio College (12-13, 5-3) for its second straight SCC North win. Chaffey College (17-10, 5-3) routed LA Trade Tech 87-61 (7-15, 2-6).
The Huskies close out the regular season next week with SCC North games at LA Trade Tech College on Wednesday and at home against Chaffey College on Friday, Feb. 16. Both games begin at 7 p.m.
The playoffs begin next week. ELAC will have a Round 1 bye on Wednesday and will host a CCCAA SoCal Regional Round 2 game on Friday or Saturday. If the Huskies win, they will play in the SoCal Regional Round 3, tentatively set for Saturday, March 3.
Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index or on Facebook at ELAC Huskies Athletics (@elachuskiesathletics).
story submitted by Tadzio Garcia