By Tadzio Garcia
East Los Angeles College, the No. 13-ranked team statewide, lost at No. 4 Mt. San Antonio College, 71-63, in round-robin play of the Mt. SAC Tournament last weekend.
The game against was a rare preview of South Coast Conference play.
Entering the game, both teams were 2-0 in tournament play. There were however, not enough teams to have a normal playoff-type tournament with first, third and consolation championship games.
The ELAC coaches did not provide any games statistics.
The Huskies gave the Mounties all they could handle flying out the gates racing to a 28-18 lead with 8:25 left in the first half.
Mt. SAC chipped away at ELAC’s lead and led 38-34 lead with 15:21 left in the game. A slam dunk by Dushon Carter brought the ELAC team to its feet with 15:07 remaining to pull the Huskies within two points, 38-36.
The Huskies led 46-45 with 11:07 left. Mt. SAC answered with an 18-6 rally.
“I wish we would have pulled out the battle against the No. 4 team. We were fatigued after playing the toughest schedule in the state, six games in 14 days,” ELAC Head Coach John Mosley said.
The Huskies played eight games in 17 days and post a 7-3 overall record. Two of those victories were against Rio Hondo College. The Huskies got by the Roadrunners 72-69 in tournament play after beating them 116-60, Nov. 15 at home.
“Any team can beat any other team in the state on any given day. We beat up on Rio Hondo the first time we met because it was their first game. They are a good team and they will not lose like that this season to anyone,” Mosley said.
The Huskies opened Mt. SAC tournament play with a 78-63 upset over No. 7 San Bernardino Valley College. “We did well in against them,” Husky point guard Chris Brown said. SBVC recently lost to Mt. SAC, 81-77.
The 15-point ELAC win over SBVC looked easy as the Husky offense and defense out-hustled the Wolverines closing out their rally attempts.
“In the last two games (in the Mt. SAC Tournament) we started out good but were fatigued. We still gave it our all and we will learn from this,” Brown said. The Huskies are 4-1 in close games of two points or less.
ELAC hosts winless Porterville College on Friday in the men’s gym at 7 p.m. “We do not take any one lightly. We take it one game at a time,” Husky forward Aaron Cheatum said.