After a lengthy tug of war between both teams, Compton College proved to be a formidable opponent, beating LBCC 93-85 on Feb. 13.
The match opened with a brief spotlight on LBCC’s sophomores, 4 of which served as the starting lineup for the Vikings.
Initially, the LBCC Vikings were able to close gaps created by 3 pointers by Compton College’s Tartars by making the most out of free throws granted by their opponents tendency to generate fouls.
The Tartars, capitalizing on their offensive upper hand, continued to break through the Viking’s defense, managing to score back to back, and ending the first half 52-43.
“We just had some defensive lapses… we played pretty good but in spots we just didn’t contain the basketball like we wanted to,” said assistant coach Hosea Lewis.
The second half seemed promising for the Vikings, but soon enough the Tartars found the space to continue to score uninterrupted, particularly making the most out of rebound opportunities.
In defiance, Lawrence Brown, the Viking’s freshman point guard, burst onto the court, scoring 18 out of the 19 points he made as the top scorer of the team.
However, the Tartars kept finding openings in the Viking’s defense, with David Garcia, the sophomore point guard who continuously encouraged his team.
“I felt like we were getting a little bit stagnant. We get to a point where all we want to do is to play a little one-on-one ball. I was just trying to get people to emphasize movement and get the ball moving, to not let it stick,” said Garcia.
With multiple strategic timeouts, switch ins and a barrage of traded 2 pointers from each team, the second half of the match closed 93-85.
“The team is doing its best… it took us a minute to get there, but David is definitely a leader for us… we need to keep working, do everything that we can to get better,” said Brown.
In terms of looking forward, Garcia holds high hopes for the team regardless of any shortcomings and is determined to finish on a strong note.
“Hopefully we can go three and three on our last three games and I look forward to encouraging the freshmen and giving them a lot of teaching moments. It’s a tough grind, but as long as they stick together next year, they’ll have a better season,” said Garcia.