Thursday, Jan. 31, 2012
By Will Hernandez
After falling to El Camino College 60-56 last Friday, the men’s basketball team redeemed themselves crushing LA Southwest 79-58, last night.
With the win, East Los Angeles College’s record is 16-5 overall, 5-2 in in the South Coast Conference standings. The Huskies are tied for third place in the SCC and are ranked No. 13 statewide.
The game couldn’t have got off to a better start for the Huskies. Southwest tipped the opening tip-off into their own backcourt where point guard Dushon Carter picked the ball and scored an easy layup.
ELAC only trailed once in the game, 12-9, after Southwest forward Sheldon Wright drained a wide open three-pointer.
Sophomore guard Harris Javier put the Huskies back on top, when he got a putback. The score then was 16-15 with 10 minutes left in the half.
The Huskies never looked back as their fast play ran Southwest out of the building.
ELAC began to siege control of the game nearing the end of the half when Carter intercepted a Southwest pass at the top of the key. Carter had an easy fast break and finished it off with a slam.
Carter had a similar play shortly after and after the game said those two plays were a product of instincts and repetition.
“It’s both. We practice that every day for about an hour working on defense, and it just kicked in and I got the steal and finished it home with a dunk,” Carter said.
The Huskies had a comfortable lead going into the locker room, 38-25.
The Huskies had a strong night of shooting from three-point land, sinking 9-of-14 attempts.
Another big contributor for the ELAC was forward Jaree Crawford who had a double-double scoring 26 points with 14 rebounds. He proved he’s a presence in the post draining 4-of-4 attempts from downtown.
“I’ve got an inside outside game, playing the five spot right now. People think I can’t shoot and that’s when I go up for a three. Tonight things were just going in and my swing was in a set with the ball,” Crawford said.
The Huskies broke the score wide open in their favor. ELAC started having their way with Southwest.
The Huskies tried several alley-oop passes but only converted on one attempt when guard Chris Brown centered one to Crawford.
Crawford’s an alley-oop layup put the Huskies up 57-34. A big factor in that style of play is team chemistry.
After the game Carter spoke on the team’s chemistry and its importance heading into the final stretch.
“Team chemistry is good. We had it before and now it’s even stronger as the season is coming to an end. We all have one goal in mind and that’s to finish the season hard and try and be conference champions,” Carter said.
ELAC Head Coach John Mosley commented after the game on the team’s performance saying, “It was good. Coming down the stretch in conference we play good defense and tonight we executed well.”
Mosley would go on to say, “The execution was the difference. We shared the ball well and going into the playoffs it’s important that we execute well.”
ELAC’s chances of making the playoffs are looking bright but in terms of taking home the conference title might be easier said than done. They remain behind second place Mt. San Antonio College (6-1) and first place Cerritos College (7-0) with six games remaining.
The Huskies will next head down to Long Beach to take on conference opponent Long Beach City College tomorrow, Feb. 1, at 6 p.m.