Huskies' Battle with Defending Champs Falls a Point (and Toe) Short.

by Cerwin D Haynes

(thumbnail by Henry Caceres, gallery by Mario Villegas)

"It's a game of inches"

A statement that's usually ushered in football but tends to apply to all sports, it represents how narrow the line between winning and losing can be. Unfortunately for East Los Angeles College men's basketball tonight, it was perhaps an inch or two on a line that kept them from having a chance to beat the defending state champion Fullerton College Hornets.

Down 70-67 with 1.5 seconds left, ELAC had the ball and needed a three-pointer to tie the game and send it into overtime. Coming out of a timeout, sophomore F Gregory Melvin inbounded the ball to sophomore G Jalai Okeith to the left wing of the three-point line. Okeith gathered himself on the catch, rose, and fired a high-arching shot with a hand in his face. He drained the long ball as time expired, and everyone thought the game was headed into the extra session.

But as Dan Gudino often says: "zebras know best."

The referees quickly gathered and called the shot a two-point make. They told the scorer's table that Okeith's foot - or toe rather - was on the three-point line as he rose for his jumper. Upon reviewing the video from SportsnetUSA's livestream after the game, it appeared they were right:

And just like that, the home Green (3-5) fell a point shy of the Hornets (9-3), 70-69.

In the first half, the Huskies fell behind the visitors as Fullerton used good ball movement to find open looks inside. The Hornets shot over 57% from the field and assisted on nine of their 16 made baskets. But East kept within striking distance, and only trailed by six, 41-35 going into halftime.

The second half saw the pace slow down as ELAC picked up their intensity defensively and on the boards. Ultimately, East LA finally caught up to Fullerton, tying the Hornets at 53 with 7:16 left on a Javion Langston layup. From that point, the teams went back and forth taking and giving back the lead until ELAC found themselves with the ball trailing by three with nine seconds left. The Huskies advanced the ball upcourt where head coach John Mosley called timeout before one of his guards put up an off-balance three-point shot.

HUSKY BITS

• Tonight's loss snaps a 28-game home winning streak. The last time East LA lost on their home floor was on March 2, 2019 - the 2nd Round of the 3C2A SoCal Regional Playoffs, where the Huskies were upset by Santa Monica College, 63-60.
• Freshman G Daniel Michelini-Jackson lead the Huskies's scoring with 17 points off the bench while adding five rebounds and two steals.
• Sophomore G Brandon Wilson had a perfect shooting night. He was 4-4 from the field including a made three-ball plus 2-2 from the line, good for 11 points. He also had six rebounds.
• ELAC outrebounded Fullerton 41-25, including a 22-9 edge in the second half. Unfortunately, they lost the turnover battle with the road Hornets 19-13.
• Fullerton's Jeremiah Davis led all scorers with 18 points on 7-13 shooting. The Hornets shot 51% from the field for the game compared to ELAC's 45.6%.
• Huskies also fell just shy of exacting a measure of revenge against the champs, as Fullerton beat ELAC last March in the State Championship semifinals.

UP NEXT:

Speaking of Santa Monica, the Corsairs come into the "E"-rena next Wednesday December 20 to face the Huskies at 6pm.