Huskies Hit Triple Digits in Rout of Rival PCC

by Cerwin D. Haynes

(photos by Valerie Meulenberg)

Another conference rival, another dominant win.

Continuing where they left off last Wednesday, East Los Angeles College (21-1, 2-0) flexed more of its muscle in overpowering Pasadena City College (10-12, 1-1) 102-72. Similar to last week, the Huskies spread the scoring evenly amongst their starters and bench with high marksmanship from beyond the arc (15 of 30, 50% 3-pt FGs). ELAC reserves Taj Regans (12 points, three assists) Kristopher Smith (12 points, four assists) Mark Boland (team-high 16 points w/six rebounds) and Joseph Hampton (15 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks) combined to nail eight of 12 three-pointers in the first half alone, where the Huskies established firm control of the game.

ELAC excelled in many other categories in the matchup: They shot the ball well overall, making over 58% of their field goal attempts (36-62). The men also shared the ball freely: ELAC assisted on 31 of their 36 field goal makes for the game (led by Levelle Zeigler's 10 assists). And they also owned the boards to the tune of a 51-27 rebounding advantage (with the Huskies rebounding 42 of the Lancers' missed shots, including free throw misses).

The only lead the Lancers had in the game was early in the first half when they were up 4-2 for the first three-plus minutes. The Huskies would then orchestrate a 14-0 spurt fueled by four three-pointers and a layup over a stretch of 3:15 to take a 16-4 lead. And they were just getting started: with the score 30-17 ELAC at the 8:19 mark, the Huskies would close out the half with a decisive 18-5 run to go into halftime up 48-22. PCC would draw no closer than 20 points for the rest of the game.

HUSKY BITS:

• Before tip-off, Athletic Director Bobby Godinez lead a 24-second moment of silence for the victims of last Sunday's plane crash: NBA and Laker legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna, longtime Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife Keri and daughter Alyssa, as well as four others. The ELAC players all warmed up in jerseys with the #24 on them in honor of the late Bryant. An editor's note on the tragedy can be read here. 

  

• In the first half, the Huskies held the Lancers to under 24% shooting while making almost 60%o their own shots.

• The only two areas ELAC did not outperform PCC was in steals (9 to 13) and turnovers (25 to 17).
• Pasadena reserve swingman Gabriel Ajemian led all scorers with 19 points on 8-16 shooting.
• ELAC did not need to lean heavily on state field-goal percentage leader and team scoring leader Kealen Allen tonight.He only had nine points on 3-5 shooting, but pulled down 10 boards.

NEXT UP:

• The Huskies head east to Walnut on Friday to take on the Mounties of Mt. SAC. Tipoff at Mt. SAC scheduled for 7pm.