Men’s Basketball: Spencer’s 34 points leads No. 11 Long Beach to seventh straight win

Sophomore Chris Spencer (Jordan HS) poured in a career-best 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help lead the No. 11 state-ranked Long Beach City College men's basketball team to a 95-71 South Coast Conference South Division win over visiting Los Angeles Southwest College on Wednesday night at the Hall of Champions Gym.

The victory extended the Vikings' winning streak to seven as LBCC has won 16 of its last 17 games. Long Beach leads the SCC South Division at 4-0 and is 15-4 overall this season.

Despite the 24-point margin of victory, Long Beach actually trailed until midway in the second half. Spencer paced the Vikings at the break with 20 points, but LBCC was down 40-35 at the break.

Long Beach opened the second with an 8-2 run. A pair of free throws by freshman Davarrus Bryant (Venice HS) at the 16:24 mark gave the Vikings their first lead, 43-42.

LBCC and L.A. Southwest exchanged leads over the next five minutes and the Cougars were up 57-55 with 11:38 to play after a free throw by Antoine Brown. But Long Beach responded with an 18-2 run, including eight points from Spencer, to take the lead for good.

The Vikings went on to outscore L.A. Southwest 60-31 in the second half.

Freshman Michael Shivers (Hannibal, MO) came off the bench to score 21 points to go with six rebounds. Freshman Jovan Pearson (Cabrillo HS) was also effective off the bench, adding 14 points, six rebounds, and four blocks while sophomore Brandon Staton (Poly HS) chipped in with 13 points and five assists.

For L.A. Southwest (7-9, 0-4 SCC), Justin Cobb led the Cougars with 28 points.

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Jan. 23) at 7 p.m. when it hosts East Los Angeles College in a SCC interdivision game.