Huskies Withstand Last-Minute Rally to Hold Off Mounties

by Cerwin D Haynes

The heavyweight matchup between two of the top-three teams in SoCal juco basketball (and two of the top-10 in the state) lived up to its billing as #8 East LA College and #3 Mt. San Antonio College took turns punching and countering. In the end, a pair of Donjae Lindsey free throws with 2.8 seconds staved off a furious late rally by Mt. SAC (21-2, 4-1) as the Huskies (20-2, 5-0) held on for a big 70-67 win. Lindsey led all scorers with 18 points (6-12 FGs, 6-10 FTs).

The first ten minutes of the game felt similar to the first couple of rounds of a big prize fight where fighters feel out their opponent's tendencies. ELAC held a 17-8 lead midway through what would be a low-scoring first half, and with the energy on the floor in the gym, one would anticipate the Mounties to ultimately counter. After a Terrance Hampton three-pointer gave the Pack a 22-10 lead with 8:27 left in the half, the visitors from Walnut began to make their move. Mt. SAC put together a 13-2 surge over the next five-plus minutes: a Kenneth Brown layup slicing the Huskies' lead to a point, 24-23, with 2:44 left. A pair of Daniel Michelini-Jackson free-throws put ELAC up 26-23 with 1:53 to go; they would ultimately make it to halftime up a point at 28-27 as both teams played nip-and-tuck to close out the half. 

The second half saw Mt. SAC take their first lead of the game, 36-33, at the 16:02 mark courtesy of a Brown three-ball. They would edge their lead up to as many as six points when a Joel Gado layup put East LA at a 45-39 deficit. The home Green's defense had been mostly stout up until that point, but the Mountie guards started to find their way into the paint for backdoor passes that led to a few layups. ELAC would make the adjustment to better contest those layups later on in the half, and with Mt. SAC shooting uncharastically poorly from the free-throw line, (13-24; 54.2% in the second half and an abysmal 46.4% for the game), the Pack had opportunities to take back the lead. 

And they did: Lindsey came alive, the sophomore PG using his quickness and athleticism to hit a spinning jumper in the paint at the 10:30 mark, taking a 47-46 lead. Sophomore G/F Zyier Beverly followed that up with a steal of a Jimmy Baker pass and strided downcourt, just eluding a Mt. SAC defender to soar in for a layup to extend the Huskies' lead to 49-46 with 10:21 to go. Mt. SAC and ELAC would trade a pair of made free throws before Michelini-Jackson, who had to deal with smothering defense from Mt. SAC all night, found himself at the right place at the right time. Lindsey missed a straight-on three point attempt with two Mounties ready to grab the rebound. But the ball bounced off them both and right into the hands Michelini-Jackson, who coverted a quick layup before Mt. SAC realized where the ball was. 53-48 advantage for ELAC with 8:15 to go.

A bit later on, a pair of Marvel Chambers free-throws narrowed East's lead to four, 56-52, with 5:28 left. After an ELAC timeout mid-possession, they only had nine seconds to get a shot up. Well-defended by Mt. SAC, the ball found its way again to Michelini-Jackson, who had to put up an off-balance three pointer on the right side to avoid a shot-clock violation. 

it's the type of shot a team is usually happy to force defensively... except he drained it. Cue the crowd and East LA bench roaring.

The Huskies were now up seven, 59-52, but with 4:13 left there was still plenty of time for the game to go either (or any) way. For the next two-plus minutes, it appeared ELAC would will the game in their favor: sophomore PG Kamren Williams, plagued by foul trouble all-night, got hold of a loose ball off a deflection during an ELAC possession. Finding a crease into the paint, he drove straight down the lane from the top of the three-point arc for a two-handed lay-in, pushing the Pack's lead to 66-57 with two minutes left and a timeout. A three-possession lead at that point usually signals that a team is one or two plays away from putting the game away, and that's where the home Green found themselves.

Unfortunately, Mt. SAC wasn't done yet and East may have exhaled a little too early. A furious 7-0 run saw them close within two, 66-64, with 59 seconds left. Lindsey stemmed the rally with a layup with 39 seconds left, but Ryan Wheeler answered with his own layup to trim the lead back to a bucket, 68-66 with 27 seconds left.    

On the Huskies next possession following a timeout, Lindsey was fouled as he dribbled past halfcourt, the Huskies navigating out of Mt. SAC's full-court trap. With 17.9 seconds left, he went to the line for two critical free-throws... and missed both. The second miss was knocked out of bounds by ELAC and Mt. SAC would gain possesion with the chance to tie or go ahead. The Mountines inbounded the ball and survived a couple of deflections out-of-bounds by the Huskies to maintain possession, and Immanuel Taylor drew a hand-check foul on Lindsey with nine seconds left (both teams were in the double-bonus) to earn a pair of critical free-throw attempts.

Fouling a team that's down by one possession is usually considered poor late-game execution. However, in recalling Mt. SAC's major struggles at the charity stripe, Lindsey's fouling far from guaranteed that Mt. SAC would tie the game. Taylor - Exibit A in Mt. SAC's free-throw woes - was only 2-8 from the line to that point. The unplanned gamble paid off for ELAC: Taylor missed the first freebie and made the second, allowing the Huskies to hang on to a 68-67 lead with 8.6 seconds to go. With ELAC needing to advance the ball to their frontcourt without turning it over (which would force Mt. SAC to quickly foul them), head coach John Mosley called timeout to talk things over. 

On the ensuing inbounds, Mt. SAC knocked two passes out of bounds that shaved a little over a second off the clock. On ELAC's third inbounds' try, they go the ball to Lindsey, who spun away from his defender and raced upcourt on the near-side. Wheeler had to chase him down past half-court just to foul him, with 2.8 seconds left. This time, he made both (much to the chagrin of the Mt. SAC's women's basketball player who heckled him hard during the final two-minutes). 

The Huskies then pressed Mt. SAC on their final inbounds play. Pressuring the guard receiving the inbounds, freshman PG Jayden Barnes forced his man into making a long pass that took up the final 2.8 seconds. Mt. SAC couldn't get a shot off in time, and the home Green finally secured the big win.

HUSKY BITS

• Hampton scored 10 points and snared 14 rebounds while fighting hard against the physical Wheeler. The freshman F also knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the arc in the first half.
• Michelini-Jackson 16 points on 50% shooting (4-8 FGs, 5-7 FTs) while constantly being blitzed by a defense that clearly gameplanned against him. He made all three of his long-range bombs - each make seemingly when the team needed it most.
• Beverly scored 11 points off the bench on 5-8 shooting, including a trio of big-league dunks. His energy helped buoy the Huskies when they trailed during the second half. He also grabbed five boards with a couple of steals and a block.
• Barnes scored four points with two assists on the night, but more importantly, he gave Coach Mosley good floor minutes while Williams was forced to the bench with foul trouble.
• Mt. SAC played without leading-scorer Jaidyn Simpson, who was a late scratch.

UP NEXT:

The Pack are back on the road and will need to avoid a letdown this Friday as they travel to LA City College (11-12, 2-3) to face a plucky Cubs' team. ELAC beat LACC at home back on January 22 by a score of 86-69. LA City G Caleb Shepherd scored his season high of 30 points in the teams' previous meeting.