The El Camino College Men’s Basketball team is now on a five-game losing streak after a 79-70 home loss versus the Compton College Tartars on Wednesday, Feb. 21.

The game opened with the Tartars winning the tipoff and two missed baskets by both teams.

The Warriors’ missed shot gave the Tartars the opportunity to score a three-point shot off the inbound to open the game’s scoring. The Warriors recovered quickly, however, with sophomore Billy Ray Barnes III making a midrange jump shot.

Unfazed, the Tartars were just as fast in their response, scoring another three points.

This back-and-forth would continue with the score remaining within 10 points for the first half.

Warriors coach Robert Uphoff said his team knew the game was going to be challenging.

“We’ve been struggling with injuries, struggling with a variety of things as well as some various personal issues on the team,” he said.

The coach said the team was optimistic coming into the game.

“It’s really just about keeping it all together,” Uphoff said. “It’s really gonna come down to, what I told the team, who wants it more tonight.”

Initially, the Warriors were able to keep pace with the Tartars, maintaining a 6-6 score early in the game. Compton continued to score three-pointers, bringing the score to 9-6. The Warriors were up 10-9 at one point.

It was a trend that would not continue into the second half.

That was when the Warriors began to stagnate. The Tartars scored four points before the Warriors made a three, which was followed by a Tartars three bringing the score to 18-13 in their favor.

The Warriors were unable to overcome the Tartars’ rally leading into the second half, resulting in the loss of their fifth consecutive game, 79-70.

“Every game is a learning experience, whether we win or lose, but we never lose, we just learn,” Barnes said.

Before the game started, Barnes and Miguel Javier, both sophomores, were honored for Sophomore Night. Their friends and loved ones gave them flowers, framed photos and had their pictures taken with them and the team.

“I feel good, bittersweet, I wanted to go out on a win but it was just a tough night for us, as a whole, [we] made it tough at the end for [them] but gotta be more composed,” Barnes said.

The game had several fouls on both sides, especially during the second half with 11 fouls for the Tartars and 16 for the Warriors.

The Warriors’ 16 fouls gave the Tartars plenty of opportunity to score during free throws in the second half.

“They got hot in the first half getting threes and reality started to set in and they missed all their threes in the second half,” Uphoff said.

Uphoff said most of the fouls were the Warriors’ fault.

“We were out of position, we were about a step or two late on rotations or help side [defense] and giving up too many slips,” he said.

The Warriors stayed persistent in their efforts to defeat the Tartars but lagged too far to recover the game.

In the teams’ last face-off, the Tartars achieved a close victory of 58-57 on Feb. 2 over the Warriors.

“We fought hard, we had a good week of practice, we really focused,” Tartars’ coach Keith Hollimon said.

Hollimon said the Warriors showed it is always a good team but his team came prepared on the night.

“They pressed and bobbed us but we practiced for that press and we were able to get some layups out of it,” he said.

Hollimon said the Tartars earned the win. “El Camino is a tough opponent and I think we won with everything we had,” he said.

Next Game
El Camino vs L.A. Harbor
@ L.A. Harbor College
Friday, Feb. 23, 5 p.m.