Men's Basketball Defeats Santa Ana in Overtime

The men's basketball team defeated the Santa Ana College Dons 93-89 OT on Thursday evening in their second home game of the 2017-18 campaign. The Vikings outshot their opponents in free throws and three-pointers to seal their overtime win.

Freshman guard Jeremiah Sadler opened the game with a three-point shot with a perfect assist from sophomore guard William English. English was next at the line with two free throws to extend the Vikings' lead.

Long Beach powered through the first half by leading the Dons by 12 points. Freshman guard Jamiu Akinbile dominated with 10 points, five rebounds and one assist to complete the first half.

With four minutes left on the clock, Santa Ana tied the game 33-33 with a three pointer. Then they extended their lead 47-33 by the final minute of the first half. Freshman forward Matthew Wooten wasn't ready to end the half just yet and slammed in a drunk with the assist from Akinbile to end the half 38-52.

In the second half of the game, Wooten was the first to score for Long Beach. Santa Ana College kept pressing offensively and led the Vikings by 16 points at the start of the second half. Long Beach picked up their offense and tied it back up with nine minutes left in the game.

The Dons and the Vikings continued to exchange the lead and tied the game in the second half 80-80 to go in to overtime. Freshman guard Nicolas Stuart tipped in the first shot for the Vikings in OT, followed by four points from Sadler and English.

With one minute left on the clock, Sadler scored a three-pointer to seal the lead for the Vikings. Sadler and freshman guard Jordan Heard finished the game with free throws and claimed the Vikings 93-89 OT victory over the Dons.