By Tadzio Garcia
Riding a three-game win-streak, East Los Angeles College will host Long Beach City College and the state’s No. 15-ranked Pasadena City College tomorrow and Friday, respectively.
Both games begin at 7 p.m. in the Men’s Gym and will kick off a five-game home stretch prior to the postseason. ELAC, 17-6 overall, is in first place in the South Coast Conference North Division standings with a 6-2 record.
Long Beach (15-7, 7-1) is tied for first place in the SCC South Division with Cerritos College (14-8, 7-1). Southern California’s No. 13-ranked Pasadena (17-7, 5-3) is a game behind the Huskies.
The Huskies scored a 73-47 South Coast Conference victory at LA Southwest College on Friday in their last regular season away game.
Forward Guillermo “Chino” Lopez slammed a dunk with 7:57 left in the first half to bring the ELAC fans to their feet. The Huskies never looked back.
“It was a quick play. I had to cross a defensive player to get to the basket. I saw an opportunity and scored a two-hand dunk,” Lopez said.
The final basket in the game was a dunk by ELAC’s forward Denzel “Hot Lib” Council with seven seconds left in the game.
“We always focus and keep up our game to score and play defense regardless of who is in the game or whether we are up by two points or 30,” ELAC forward Zachary Hinton said.
Guard Marcus Romain came off the bench and led the Huskies in scoring with 20 points. The ELAC bench scored 32 points. ELAC guard Je’Ron Primus added 17.
Southwest was led by forward Reggie Fields who scored 10 points.
The Huskies beat El Camino College, 62-43, and began their current streak with a 73-68 win at Los Angeles Harbor College on January 24.
ELAC Head Coach John Mosley played the entire ELAC team against El Camino, LA Harbor and Southwest colleges. The bench gets experience regardless of whom the Huskies play.
“The experience matters. If I’m called with 10 seconds left in the game even if it’s the playoffs, I’m expected to perform and not be nervous,” ELAC guard Fred Brown said.
Against El Camino, the Warriors played zone defense until 11:26 was left in the game. ELAC responded with a 14-3 run beginning with forward Primitivo Gomez’s two-point shot off an assist by guard Davian Wilson for a 39-31 Husky lead.
The rally ended with a 51-36 Husky lead off of a two-point shot by forward Aaron Cheatum assisted by Gomez. El Camino returned to the zone defense and the Huskies outscored them 11-7 for the final score.
ELAC began the game with an immediate lead. El Camino rallied with a 6-0 run to lead 19-14, mid first half. ELAC then called their first time out responding with a 9-0 run and a lead they would never relinquish.
ELAC was led by Wilson who scored 15 second-half points followed by Gomez (12 points), Cheatum (10 points) and Romain, who scored 10 first-half points. El Camino was led by forward Anthony Dunn who scored 12 points.
In the close Husky victory at Harbor, both teams were evenly matched in all stats except one, the bench scoring. ELAC won the game with their bench outscoring Harbor’s, 18-11.
The Huskies were led by Cheatum (19 points) and guard Te’shon Burton (17 points). Harbor was led by guards Jamar Cannon (22 points) and Anthony Foster (14 points).
