Up 50-55, Los Angeles Harbor College sophomore guard Donell Drain went to the line for the second of two free throws with 32.1 seconds left in their game versus the EC men’s basketball team.
Clank.
Drain’s shot bounces off the front of the rim and into the hands of awaiting LA Harbor sophomore forward Aubrey Myers. He overpowers his Warrior counterparts and corrals the miss. The Warriors immediately foul and send Myers to the line for two more free throws.
This type of porous showing on the defensive glass allowed the LA Harbor College Seahawks (15-10, 4-4) to come back from a halftime deficit to end the El Camino College Warriors’ (8-16, 4-4) season on a negative note on Friday.
The Warriors allowed the Seahawks to tally 16 offensive rebounds, including some critical ones down the stretch.
The reasons the Seahawks were able to defeat the Warriors were “lack of rebounding and boxing out,” EC freshman guard Dantay Blanson said. “Clearly we didn’t play aggressive enough.”
EC head coach Robert Uphoff agreed with the sentiment that the Warriors had issues rebounding the ball.
“We just got our butts kicked on the boards. We couldn’t block out; we weren’t physical enough,” Uphoff said. “When you give teams multiple opportunities, you’re going to lose ball games.”
EC sophomore guard Derrick Twiggs stuffed the stat sheet with six rebounds, three assists and four steals – all team highs – along with his 11 points. EC freshman forward Kane Wildermuth helped strengthen the Warriors’ effort by leading the team with 12 points and six rebounds.
The Warriors were able to hold the Seahawks to 28.0% shooting throughout the first half while shooting 47.8% on their own. However, the roles were reversed in the second half, as the Seahawks upped their shooting to 47.8% and the Warriors’ dipped to 29.6%.
The Warriors finished the season tied for second in the division with a 4-4 conference record but last in the South Coast-South standings in terms of overall record (8-16).
The season “could have been better,” said EC freshman forward Emmanuel Pope after the game.
Despite the improvement over the 3-21 record from a year ago, Uphoff was not satisfied with his team’s season.
“As a whole, it was rather disappointing from the standpoint that I think we’re a lot better team than eight wins,” Uphoff said as he reflected upon the year.
To learn more about the Warriors’ 2014-15 season, visit http://www.cccaasports.org/sports/mbkb/2014-15/teams/elcamino.
