Husky Basketball Team Advances in Playoffs
Husky Basketball Team Advances in Playoffs!
Mario Villegas recaps ELAC's win over RCC
With a 94-77 victory over Riverside City College, ELAC advances to the Southern California regional championships and will play L.A. Harbor in a matchup of South Coast Conference teams at 7 p.m. Saturday at home.
It's a marquee rematch between three seed ELAC (25-3), the South Coast's North Division champion, and six seed Harbor (25-4), the South Division winner. Harbor defeated ELAC, 76-64 in a regular season game Jan. 11 at Harbor.
However, the stakes will be much higher in the second meeting between the Huskies and Seahawks on Saturday, as the winner will go to the state championship tournament March 9, 11-12 at West Hills College in Lemoore.
Last Saturday, ELAC defeated Riverside in a SoCal second-round game before a capacity crowd in the men's gym.
Jon Sanders scored a game-high 26 points to lead the Huskies to their 10th consecutive victory. The sophomore guard from Detroit made all eight of his field goal attempts, including all four of his 3-point shots. He also had five assists and a steal.
Guard Noel Scott also had a big night for the winners with 18 points, four rebounds and two assists. Three Huskies came off the bench to score in double figures, including Demetrius Calip who scored 13 points and capped the scoring with a breakaway dunk that got the crowd on its feet. Donjae Lindsey added 11 points and Gregory Melvin chipped in 11 and had five steals.
The Huskies led 44-30 at halftime, but Riverside (17-13) rallied back in the second half. The Tigers went on a 16-4 run to start the second half to pull to within, 48-46 six minutes into it. But a 3-pointer by Calip sparked a 10-0 counter run by the Huskies. It proved to be too much for Riverside to overcome.