By Noe Ortega
Men’s basketball ended its season as South Coast Conference-North champions, with an overall record of 24-6.
“The season went great. Anytime you can win over 20 games, that’s an accomplishment in itself. We won the conference for the third straight year, went to the playoffs for the sixth year in a row and got a fourth seed as well,“ head coach John Mosley said.
The Huskies averaged 81.2 points per game, 40.5 rebounds per game, and a 50.1 percent field goal percentage in the 30 games played.
East Los Angeles College was one of the 21 teams, out of the 96, in the California Community College Athletic Association that had more than 20 wins in the 2017-2018 season.
“It was a team effort. All of them together had a special moment that helped us reach the accomplishments that we had. Everybody made the same commitment and played extraordinary to accomplish our goals,” Mosley said.
ELAC sophomore guard Roderick Williams won back-to-back SCC-North player of the year for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 seasons and was named in the first team of the California Community College Men’s Basketball Coaches Association.
“My expectations were to win the whole thing (State Championship) That’s what I wanted to do. That’s what our team wanted to do, but we fell short and that’s just how life is,” Williams said. Williams played 28 games in his sophomore season with ELAC, averaging 19.4 points per game and a field goal percentage of 60.2.
The Huskies biggest win this season was a 133-81 against Cerro Coso Community College at a Cuyamaca weekend tournament in December.
While their biggest defeat was also at a weekend tournament at Cuesta College, the Huskies lost 75-56 against San Bernardino Valley College.
The Huskies finished with a 9-1 record in the SCC-North play and were on a eight-game winning streak prior to its elimination on Feb. 24 to Santiago Canyon College.
“Next year we should be better. This past season was disappointing with the early exit, next year we’ll get them back,” freshman forward Solomon Hunt said.
In four out of the last five seasons, ELAC has won the SCC-North Championship and made it to the CCCAA State Championship in the 2014-2015 season .
Mosley said his coaching staff, consisting of Kenneth Hunter, Damian Tate, Darren French, Frankie Aguilar and Bernardo Fitz-Gonzalez, worked hard this season with the team on and off the court.
“They did well. They got another banner up so they had a great season. One of the best coaching staffs in this basketball organization. I think they’re really good in pushing us and keeping us motivated. Every single one of them,” Williams said.
Mosley was named SCC-North division coach of the year for the third consecutive year. Along with Williams’ and Mosley’s honors, freshman forward Jacob Tryon, Hunt and sophomore guard Frank Bertz were all named in the All SCC-North Division team.
“A lot of guys, because of what we’ve done, want to come to be a part of our program. That’s something that we’ve been excited about,” Mosley said.
“We don’t have to chase players as much because they call us and want to join us because of the success that we’ve had.”
Seven ELAC sophomores played their last season. Including sophomores Williams, Bertz, guard Robert Fuller, guard Jamier Cross, forward Jermaine Camacho-Small, forward Ernest Jones and center Collin Bell.
“We didn’t accomplish the goal we set, but our record was good. We won conference. Coach Mosley won Coach of the Year. We had a couple of players make first team of the year, but we didn’t do half as well as we wanted to. That was unfortunate,” Bell said.