Eagle Men Drop Tight One to First Place Chaffey

The MSJC men's basketball team had a shot to tie the game at the buzzer, but it came up short as they lost a tightly contested game to conference leader Chaffey on Saturday 81-78.

The Eagles trailed 15-14 after six and a half minutes of play on Saturday afternoon an could never regain the lead despite a valiant effort in the second half.  The Panthers did lead by 13, 44-31 at the break, but MSJC immediately made it interesting in the second when Kamien Cederlind and Mekhi Hill hit back to back three pointers to open the final 20 minutes.  The Eagles fought off some mini runs by Chaffey to stay within striking distance and a late push gave them an opportunity to tie the game in the final seconds.  Chaffey missed some free throws down the stretch and allowed Danilo Da Silva to get off a potential game tying three as time expired, but it came up short.

Jamaal Barnes ended the day as the top scorer in the game as he scored 21, Da Silva finished the game with 15 for MSJC.  Hill also reached double figures in scoring with 12 for the Eagles.

The loss drops the Eagles to 13-12 overall, they are 9-4 in Inland Empire Athletic Conference games and still hold a half game lead over San Bernardino Valley for second place in the league standings.  Chaffey stayed unbeaten in IEAC play as they improved to 13-0, they are 20-5 overall and clinched the conference championship with the win.

The Eagles, who have three regular season games remaining, will be on the road this week for a game at College of the Desert on Wednesday night at 7 pm.  MSJC's final two games of the regular season will be Wednesday February 19th at Palo Verde and at home February 21st when they host San Bernardino Valley.