Defense Fuels Big Second-Half, Huskies Rout

by Cerwin D Haynes

Despite the season being very young, it's uncharacteristic to see East LA College men's basketball below .500 at any point in any season under the stewardship of head coach John Mosley. The team struggled to shoot the ball last weekend out at the Alvin Hunter Classic in San Bernardino Valley, so an early season return to their home gym for a game served potential to work out the kinks.

East LA (2-2) was indeed able to put in work against Porterville College (2-3) tonight, using their defense to turn an eight-point halftime lead into a 42-point rout of the Pirates, 84-42. Sophomore wings Gregory Melvin and Brandon Wilson lead a balance Pack attack with 13 points apiece as 12 Huskies registered in the scoring column.

ELAC lead 33-25 at halftime thanks in part to forcing 10 Pirate turnovers. Coach Mosley must've keyed in on Porterville's ball handling issues, because in the second half East LA employed the full-court press everytime the visitors inbounded from under their basket to bring the ball upcourt. The defensive pressure got to the Pirates just as a blitz finally gets to the quarterback: ELAC forced 15 more turnovers in the latter period and gravely disrupted Porterville's offense, holding the Pirates to just under 24% from the field.

Also, during the second half, the home Green dominated both sides of the glass, grabbing 25 rebounds in the half opposed to just 10 for Porterville. The end result of said efforts gave East easier shots and more of them; ELAC converted 19-35 field goals and outscored Porterville 51-17 in the half to end this one easily.

HUSKY BITS

• Freshman F Dylan Godfrey scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebound while shooting 2-3 from beyond the arc.
• Sophomore G Shemar Morrow came off the bench to score eight points, three rebounds and two steals.

NEXT UP:

ELAC will be off for about three weeks. Plenty of time to enjoy Thanksgiving, work off the big meal, and get some good practice time in before they head out to Riverside for another tournament Dec 6-9.