Two game-winning free throws from Mason Pacheco Robinson won the game for LBCC basketball 94-93 with 4.8 seconds remaining against Rio Hondo on Friday Nov. 8.
The Vikings came out swinging in the first half to take the lead 56-42 over the Roadrunners at halftime.
Coach Barry Barnes acknowledged that the team came out strong in the first half, but admitted that they were a little too flat in the second half. Regardless, he was proud of them for taking home a win.
Barnes said he is going to prioritize “containing the basketball” in practice after this game, along with keeping the mojo going so that they play well in both halves.
“We needed more scoring, so Lawrence Brown gave us 20 points in the first half,” Barnes said.
Freshman Lawrence Brown earned the team 25 points this game and said he is thankful for his teammates and their support throughout the game, along with his coaches who instill a lot of confidence in him.
Brown shared that Rio Hondo went on a really good run coming out of the second half, so in practice they’re going to work on staying level-headed when something similar happens.
“We definitely got to work on when people go by us, playing help (defense) but being able to tag back to our guy, besides that I think it’s just a lot of communication between us,” Brown said.
Sophomore Major Hurley shared that the next team they play is Riverside City College and that they’re a much faster team than the Vikings so to prepare they’re going to work on getting back and transitioning offense.
“This game we really pushed the pace, but they matched our intensity and knocked down some tough shots, but we responded and that’s all we had to do,” Hurley said.
Hurley is hyped for the rest of the season and is going to personally work on cutting down the turnovers so that he can have a successful rest of the season.
The Vikings now have a record of 1-5 and their next game will be against Orange Coast College on December 5th.