Men's Basketball- No. 8/12 Men's Basketball Falls to Imperial Valley's Buzzer Beater Performance
The No. 12/8 Long Beach City College men's basketball team fell in their home opener to Imperial Valley College 82-81 to a buzzer beater tip-in in the Hall of Champions. The Vikings and the Arabs tied the one another nine different times and had seven lead changes throughout the game. With the tough loss, the Vikings fall to 9-2 overall.
The Vikings and Imperial Valley were neck-in-neck from the beginning of the first half with being scoreless for the first two and a half minutes of the game. Finally sophomore guard Jamiu Akinbile hit a three pointer to put the Vikings on the board. In the first half, Akinbile led with 11 points and four rebounds. Sophomore Jeremiah Sadler led the team with four assists in the frist half. The Vikings pulled through the first half with the 42- 59 lead.
In the second half of the game, sophomore guard Jordan Heard was first to the basket to extend the Vikings lead 44-39. Imperial Valley then tied the game with back-to-back shots, but then Akinbile was next up to hit a jumper to take back to the lead.
With one minute left in the game, the Arabs trailed the Vikings by four points. After they hit a pair of free throws, Heard scored two more points to extend the Vikings lead 81-78. Imperial Valley took a timeout and returned to the court to score two more points with ten seconds left in the game to close in on the Vikings 81-80.Then, they stole back the ball from Long Beach and hit the tip-in at the buzzer to take the 82-81 win away from the Vikings.
Freshmen guards Jace Bass and Kester Ofoegbu each totaled 16 points for the Vikings and Ofoegbu led the team with nine rebounds.
The Long Beach City College men's basketball team will return to action in their second home game of the season on Friday, Dec. 14 against Mt. San Antonio College at 7 p.m. To view the remainder of the men's basketball schedule, click here.
Women's Basketball - Women's Basketball Athletes at the Next Level
Long Beach City College women's basketball recently announced three alumni players, guard Kendria Rendon, point Brittnay McDaniel and center Miranda Martinez are all continuing their academic and athletic careers at the next level.
Rendon signed with Hope International University in Fullerton, CA for the 2018-19 season, McDaniel signed with the University of La Verne and Martinez is playing for Long Beach State.
Rendon committed after two seasons at Long Beach City College. She averaged 73 percent at the free throw line, 4.6 rebounds per game and hit 110 baskets total for both seasons. Now at Hope International University, Rendon is part of the Royals, who are led by Beck Flanagan and compete in the Golden State Athletic Conference of the NAIA.
McDaniel also completed two seasons as a Viking. Throughout her career at Long Beach, she hit 125 baskets and 43 free throws. She also had 29 assists and 155 blocks. McDaniel began her NCAA Division III career at the University of La Verne this season and has started in four games so far. She currently has 15 blocks for the season. The Leopards are led by Jason Pruitt and are a member of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Martinez rounds out the Vikings at the next level as she played for played for Long Beach City College for two seasons between 2015 and 2017. Throughout the two seasons, Martinez started in 55 games and made 229 field goals and had 105 assists. Defensively, she had 76 steals and 67 blocks. This season, Martinez has participated in four games so far at Long Beach State. Long Beach State is led by Jeff Cammon and compete at the NCAA Division I and are members of the Big West Conference. To view the rest of the women's basketball schedule, click here.