Sophomore guard Raynard Tyler scored a team-high 17 points, including 14 in the second half, to help the Long Beach City College men's basketball team complete a late-game rally and beat visiting Los Angeles Harbor College 74-70 on Wednesday night at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.

The South Coast Conference South Division win was the Vikings' third straight and improved their record to 7-11 overall and 4-1 in conference play.

Trailing 40-32 at halftime, the Vikings turned it on in the second half.

Harbor's Marquel Jones opened the second with a pair of free throws before Long Beach answered with 10 straight points. Freshman guard Kristien Owens had a fastbreak layup that was followed by eight consecutive points from Tyler to tie the game at 42-42 with 17:25 to go.

Seven minutes later, Harbor built a 55-53 advantage after a pair of free throws by Jason Daley. But once again, Long Beach responded with another run to take control of the game for good.

Freshman Will Ervin's layup tied the game and two free throws from sophomore Jared Garber gave LBCC the lead. A three-pointer by Owens extended the Vikings lead to 60-55 and freshman Ashton Edwards (pictured) closed the 9-0 scoring run with a fastbreak layup after a steal to push LBCC ahead 62-55 with 8:12 remaining.

Harbor made another late run, getting within two points (68-66) at the 2:02 after two more free throws from Daley. But Edwards put the game out of reach with a clutch three-pointer with just 1:23 to go in the game.

Daley led Harbor (11-8, 1-3 SCC) with 24 points. Jamal Washington added 13 points for the Seahawks and Bola Egbeyemi added six points and 12 rebounds.

Four Vikings scored in double-figures. Besides Tyler's 17, freshman Tyler Tuliau had 15 points, Garber poured in 11 points, and Owens totaled 10 points to go with a team-best seven rebounds.

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Jan. 20) when it hosts Pasadena City College in a 7 pm SCC contest. The game is a part of LBCC's Coaches vs. Cancer event that begins at 4 pm at the Hall of Champions Gym.

Photo by John Fajardo