It took nine games, but the Long Beach City College men's basketball team finally picked up its first win of the season after defeating Saddleback College 74-72 in an opening-round game of the Bill Brummel Classic tournament at Saddleback on Thursday night.

Long Beach held a 40-30 halftime lead and was up by as many as 20 points early in the second half before Saddleback slowly began to rally back.

A layup by LBCC freshman Ashton Edwards at the 9:40 mark put the Vikings up 65-49. But Saddleback answered with a 13-3 run and was within six points (68-62) with 4:54 to go. Ashton broke that scoring run with a big three-point basket to get Long Beach back in front by nine (71-62) at 4:49.

The Gauchos wouldn't go down easy. Two straight layups by Saddleback's Devin Golston got the Gauchos within two points with 1:03 left in regulation. But freshman Tyler Tuliau was able to ice the win for the Vikings with a pair of clutch free throws with just 25 seconds left.

Edwards came off the bench to score 14 points. Freshman Brandon Moore led Long Beach with 16 points and sophomore Jared Garber (pictured) had 12 points and six rebounds.

Long Beach, now 1-8 overall, returns to tournament action on Friday (Dec. 16) when it faces Mt. San Jacinto College at 7 pm.

Photo by James McCormack