Men's Basketball Drops a Trio of Close Games at RCC

The MSJC men's basketball team lost three close games this past week as they dropped contests to East LA, Saddleback, and Riverside by a combined 15 points.

The Eagles started their week off on Wednesday with a hard fought loss to East LA 70-61.  MSJC, who trailed by 7 at the half, cut the lead all the way to two points in the final 1:58 of the game on a three point play by Lenzell Simmons, but could not score the rest of the way and were forced to foul down the stretch.  The Huskies made 7 of 8 free throws in the final 1:05 of the game to earn the victory.  Simmons led the Eagles offense with 15 points, he also grabbed 8 rebounds while Chidi Okwarabizie recorded a double double with 13 points and 13 boards.  Jamaal Barnes also had 13 points for MSJC and Michael Clark came off the bench to add 12.

On Thursday the Eagles fell to Saddleback 68-65 in a game that was close the entire way.  The Gauchos led 38-36 at the half, but MSJC was able to build a lead by as much as 5 in the second half.  The Eagles held a lead of 60-55 with 3:44 left to go in the game, before a 7-0 run by Saddleback gave them the lead back at 62-60 with two and half minutes remaining.  MSJC would take one last lead on the following possession when Simmons connected on a three pointer to make it 63-62, but the Eagles were out scored 6-2 the rest of the way.  Simmons once again led in scoring for the Eagles with 20, Okwarabizie had another double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.  Barnes reached double figures as well with 12 and Danilo Da Silva added 8 off the bench.

In Saturday's finale of the Riverside Holiday Tournament, the Eagles once again lost a close one, this time to the host school RCC 69-66.  MSJC made a furious second half rally after falling behind 55-39 wtih just 5:48 to play in the game.  A lay-up by Ethan Bell with 6 seconds remaining got the Eagles within 2 points.  After an RCC player split a pair of free throws MSJC's Kamien Cederlind couldn't connect on a highly contested three point shot that would have sent the game into overtime.  This time it was Barnes who led MSJC is scoring with 15 points, Simmons added 14 and Jerron Hampton came off the bench to add 12.  Mekhi Hill had 8 points and 8 rebounds in the game.

The Eagles are now 3-8 on the season and will be back in action on Saturday December 14th.  On Saturday MSJC will have a rematch with RCC with tip-off set for 1 pm.