No. 9 ELAC Men’s Basketball Team Defeats No. 1 San Bernardino Valley

RIVERSIDE, CA —  The Huskies men’s basketball team won 77-52 against No. 1 San Bernardino Valley College in the semifinals of the Riverside City College Holiday Classic in Wheelock Gymnasium.

“It was like a playoff game,” said East Los Angeles College Head Coach John Mosley. “They’re the No. 1 team in the state and they gave us a reason to really have a high sense of urgency.”  

“Our guys knew what San Bernardino was capable of because they beat us by 24 points in their tournament,” said Mosley. “Still, our guys were excited to play them.” The Huskies previous lost to San Bernardino 94-70 in the San Bernardino Valley College Alvin Hunter Tournament on Nov. 18.

San Bernardino was without key players at full strength with ankle sprains and was missing 6’ 7” sophomore guard Tymoryae Glover from the lineup. Glover scored 12 points against ELAC three weeks ago and averages 3.3 blocks per game. “They had a couple guys that were injured and we had to take advantage of that,” said Mosley.

Mosley plays the entire roster each game and the Huskies did take advantage of the downsized San Bernardino team, even though the Huskies are still without sophomore guard Jamier Cross who is recovering from an injury.

“Playing all our guys helps us have a little more depth,” said Mosley. “I’m still working on a rotation with Jamier being out and I’m proud our guys got a good chance to get a good win.”

The game began with intense defense directing play. Three minutes into the game, ELAC held on to a 2-0 lead and increased it to 7-0 two and a half minutes later when sophomore guard Robert Fuller (St. Bernard HS) hit a 3-point jump shot, assisted by sophomore guard Frank Bertz (Sultana HS). San Bernardino scored its first basket 21 seconds later at the 15:21 mark.

Bertz gave ELAC its largest first half lead, 30-14, with a 3-point jump shot with 2:21 left in the half. San Bernardino tallied a field goal and ELAC led 30-16 at intermission.

ELAC scored its biggest lead of the game, 52-23, at midpoint of the second half from sophomore forward Roderick Williams’ (Price HS) layup, assisted by freshman guard Nick Hart (West Covina HS) enroute to the 25-point win.

Williams, who recently returned to the lineup at full strength coming off an injury, scored a game-high 20 points for the Huskies. Bertz scored 17 points and freshman forward Jacob Tryon (Great Oak HS) scored 14 points and had a game-high 4 blocked shots.

ELAC freshman center Solomon Hunt (Upland HS) had a game-high 12 rebounds. Freshman guard Tuele Williams led San Bernardino with 12 points. Sophomore guard Kevin McNeal scored 11 points for the Wolverines.

The Huskies meet host Riverside City College in the championship game tomorrow 4 p.m. in Wheelock Gymnasium.

Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index and ELAC Huskies Athletics on Facebook.

story submitted by Tadzio Garcia