LBCC guard Franklyn Chambers’ 14 second-half points helped Long Beach City College secure the 91-88 win over Compton on Wednesday in their conference opener.
“In the locker room after the first half, my teammates just told me to relax and let the game come toward me. So I took the advice from my team because they want to win and I want to win, too,” said Chambers, who had a rocky first half before his resurgence in the second half.
Chambers’ final stat line was 17 points, two rebounds, and one assist.
LBCC came out of the gates scorching hot in the first half, securing an 18-point lead going into halftime with the score of 50-32.
LBCC guard Brandon Cerda had his name written all over this lead, as he had 12 first-half points to go along with one rebound, three assists, and one steal.
“I wanted to set a tone for the conference. We know we have to do really well in order to get a playoff spot, so I came out aggressive and I know I could score the ball so that’s what I was trying to do,” Cerda said.
Cerda finished the game with 23 points, one rebound, five assists, and two steals.
LBCC guard Jacob Topete proved to be the spark plug again off the bench, scoring 10 first-half points and leading the Vikings in the half with four assists.
Everything was going LBCC’s way on both sides of the ball, hitting nearly 56% of its shot attempts (19 of 34) and outrebounded Compton 19-11, with 14 being defensive rebounds.
Compton looked like a completely different team as they came out of the locker room for the second half on both sides of the ball as the team brought the lead down to three points with less than a minute to go in the game.
The Tartars were in good hands with guards Malvin Payero and Jontue Cooper on the floor in the second half, as Payero’s 20 points and Cooper’s 18 brought the team back into the game.
Ultimately, free throws and missed opportunities were the deciding factor in this game, as Compton guard/forward Jake Tenberge missed a game-tying free throw with 17.8 seconds left in the game.
Compton got the rebound off the missed free throw with the ball and then passed to TenBerge for a go-ahead layup, but Tenberge missed the layup and gave LBCC the ball back with 11 seconds left on the clock.
LBCC’s second-half star Franklyn Chambers made both free throws after he was fouled as he grabbed the rebound after TenBerge’s missed layup.
Compton guard Eddie Spencer then went for a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer and got a clean look, but the ball didn’t go through the net and LBCC escaped with a nail-biting finish to the game as the game ended 91-88 in favor of LBCC.
After the game, LBCC head coach Barry Barnes was displeased with his team’s capability to provide good second-half defense and maintain a decent-sized lead.
“We didn’t play team ball tonight. We let a team score 56 points in the second half but only gave them 32 in the first half. And the disappointing thing is that we don’t know how to defend. We’re 19 games into the season and can’t contain the basketball,” Barnes said.
With the victory on Wednesday, LBCC looked to keep the momentum going in the following matchup against L.A. Harbor on Friday but got manhandled 80-50.
With the poor showing against L.A. Harbor, LBCC has now lost seven of the last nine games dating back to December 19
LBCC has eight games left until regionals and will look to improve on a middle-of-the-pack 8-12 record as the Vikings take on El Camino on Wednesday.