The Warriors men’s basketball team (2-19), lost Feb. 7 away against Long Beach City College Vikings (69-58), after being outscored 11-1 when the game was tied at 46-46 during the final minutes of play.
Late turnovers inthe final minutes of play gave the Vikings the upperhand in the second half.
Coach Robert Uphoff was pleased with how well his team played during the first half of play, with them only being down by three.
“We got out to a great start being up by 12 points,” Uphoff said. “After they took the lead I thought we were in an uphill battle, and our centers could not stay out of foul trouble.”
In a very heated battle, there were six ties and 11 lead changes, although the Warriors could not stop the Vikings from scoring second chance points.
Reserve Marcus Clark scored an impressive 18 points, and was the only player in double digits.
Defensively, guard Yutaro Nishi grabbed an impressive 12 rebounds, four assists and six points. Elmo Smith added to the offense with eight points of his own.
“We didn’t turn up that extra notch in the second half that it took to win the game,” Branden Bowles said. “They were very beatable, but our energy and focus level was down, and I feel that’s why we lost.”
“Offensively, I feel we played pretty well,” Uphoff said. “We just didn’t knock down as many shots as we did in the first half.”
“It was unfortunate that we lost because we lost to them only by seven in our last meet, but I feel our foul discrepancy was a huge outcome of the game.”
The Warriors only have three games left, and will not be competing in playoffs this season.
The men’s next game will be at home against Cerritos College this Wednesday, set for 7 p.m.