Sophomore guard Ashton Edwards (pictured, left) scored a game-high 30 points and dished out eight assists while sophomore Tyler Tuliau (pictured, right) added 25 points and grabbed nine rebounds to help lead the Long Beach City College men's basketball team to a 76-75 upset win over No. 13 state-ranked East Los Angeles College on Friday night at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.
The South Coast Conference win improved the Vikings to 8-14 overall and 3-5 in conference play.
Long Beach held a narrow 33-29 halftime advantage before the Vikings put together an early second-half run. A pair of free throws by Edwards capped a 7-1 run and LBCC led 44-36 at the 14:16 mark.
The Vikings followed that with a 13-4 run, including seven points from freshman Carlos Sanchez, to take their biggest lead of the contest at 60-47 with 9:15 to play.
But East Los Angeles slowly fought its way back into the game. Trailing 71-60, the Huskies rallied for a 12-2 run. Two free throws from Aaron Cheatum got East Los Angeles within one point at 73-72 with 2:23 left in the second.
On the Vikings' next trip down court, Tuliau was fouled going to the basket and sank both free throws to give LBCC some breathing room at 75-72 with 2:18 to go.
After an East Los Angeles missed field goal, the Vikings were able to run some time off the clock before the Huskies' Chris Brown was fouled underneath the basket. He converted on his two free throws to get ELAC again within one (75-74).
After a turnover and foul by LBCC freshman Jesse Jones, Dushon Carter made his first free to tie the game, but missed on his second. Sophomore Austin Jancan was fouled on the rebound to send him to the line. Jancan calmly sank his first free throw, but missed his second.
East Los Angeles drove down the court for the final shot and after three layup attempts, Zach Hinton was fouled with 1.9 second left in the contest. With the game on the line, Hinton missed both free throws and freshman Joshua Hawkins secured the defensive rebound as the clock expired to seal the win for Vikings.
Sanchez chipped in with 12 points, including a pair of big three-pointers in the second half to extend LBCC runs.
Jaree Crawford led East Los Angeles (16-6, 5-3 SCC) with 28 points and 13 rebounds. Cheatum added 16 points and eight rebounds.
Long Beach returns to action on Wednesday (Feb 6) when it travels to El Camino College Compton Center for a 7 p.m. SCC game.
Photos by John Fajardo