Guard Jace Bass lead Long Beach City College’s men’s basketball team with 27 points as they defeated the Riverside Tigers Thursday night 79-70 at LBCC’s Hall of Champions.
Improving their record to 3-1, the Vikings are finding what does, and doesn’t work for them on either end of the floor.
“They followed the game plan, we took it out of practice and executed in the game. We knew what they were gonna run through scouting reports and we exploited how they play a pseudo zone-defense that’s really a loose man-on-man defense,” head coach Barry Barnes said.
Setting the pace in the first period, the Vikings repeatedly pushed the ball up the floor on their offensive transitions creating countless opportunities for Bass and his teammates.
“We knew what we were coming into, for the game, I feel great about our performance, as a team, and we ultimately got the win,” Bass said.
Bass ended with six rebounds, three assists and two steals to go along with his 27 points.
Though the effort was stout on the offensive end, the same can’t be said for the defensive end.
More specifically, a good number of transitions on defense seemed to be lacking and ultimately ended up in the Tigers scoring a basket.
“They kicked our behind on transition defense because they were getting outscored, they were fighting to catch-up,” Barnes said.
The Vikings secured a lead going into the half with a score of 38-42.
With the Vikings’ lead growing to as much as 24 points in the second period, victory seemed to be a lock for LBCC.
“We usually play tough. We came out and we were really killing them, but we got comfortable and started settling back and as we started sagging off [of them on defense], they came back and started to make a strong push,” sophomore guard Kester Ofoegbu said.
The defensive woes continued for the Vikings as they settled, and got comfortable in their lead.
Ofoegbu finished the game with 15 points, six rebounds and four steals.
The Tigers couldn’t gain the lead, and the Vikings were able to hold on and come out with a win.
Vikings will take on Golden West College on Friday, Nov. 22 at 6 p.m.
