Sophomores Ashton Edwards (pictured) and Tyler Tuliau both scored 24 points each, but it wasn't enough as the Long Beach City College men's basketball team fell to visiting Imperial Valley College 97-87 on Wednesday night at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.

Imperial Valley holds a 2-1 edge over Long Beach in three meetings this year. Earlier this season, the Vikings beat Imperial Valley 89-81 at the College of the Desert tournament before IVC pulled out a 98-94 double-overtime win over the Vikings at the Irvine Valley tournament.

Long Beach trailed for a majority of Wednesday's contest and was down 53-41 at halftime. But the Vikings battled back in the second to get within two points. Down 61-50, Long Beach put together an 11-2 run. Rueben Strickland had three points, Tuliau sank a basket, and Edwards drove home back-to-back layups to make the score 63-61 at the 12:16 mark in the second.

LBCC would get no closer as Imperial Valley converted seven free throws and Jumah Sutton nailed a three-pointer to get IVC back out ahead 69-62. The Vikings made one final push, getting within two points again (77-75) after a Jesse Jones jumper. Imperial Valley responded with a free throw from Geric Leath and three-pointers by Sutton and Eric Bland to seal the win.

Imperial Valley (4-8) was 12 for 18 from three-point range on the night, including five each by Sutton and Bland. Sutton led IVC with 22 points while Leath had 18 points and seven rebounds.

Edwards had an impressive all-around night as he totaled six rebounds and five assists to go with his 24 points. Tuliau led LBCC (5-8 overall) with nine rebounds as he also scored 24 while Mwelu Matayu posted 10 points, eight rebounds, four blocks, and four steals.

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Dec. 21) when it travels to San Diego City College for a 5 p.m. non-conference game. 

Photo by John Fajardo