Wing Kamron Fontenot had 21 points, seven rebounds and a block in a 73-62 loss to Santa Ana on Wednesday at Long Beach City College.
The Vikings started the first half with a drive-in layup by Kamron Fontenot, who had a dominant game and was unstoppable in the paint.
Fontenot commented on his first time playing in half a year due to injuries and talked about what he felt went wrong in the game for the Vikings.
“It was a good first game , first time playing in a year in a half after injuries , just getting my wind back and everything.Could have been better on the boards for sure thats where we lost the game on the boards, I’m suppose to be inside doing that so I take a lot of responsibility for that lackluster effort right there. Took a few bad shots and should have stuck to my bread and butter you know, getting to the rack. Shot wasn’t falling in this game should have recognized that earlier, you know first game we got time to work on stuff like that, we’ll be alright”. Fontenot said.
As the first half progressed, point guard Laerence Brown started to score and drive into the basket making layups while also getting fouled in the process. Santa Ana was in the bonus and Brown was a big part of that having eight free throw attempts.
Brown talked about his performance and how he has improved his mentally and physically from his freshman year, being a sophomore he is becoming a leader for the new players. Brown was the second leading scorer for the Vikings with fourteen points along with five rebounds and three assists.
“I feel like I did solid, good first game, obviously always trying to get better game by game, just gotta take it every minute, every practice. For the first game I feel like we did pretty solid. Definitely mentally with most of my game, physically got in the weight room,mentally just became more of a leader for the team being one of the four sophomores just trying to be the best as I can leading the younger group coming in, mentally I feel like that was my biggest thing” Brown said.
The game was going back and forth with both teams responding when the other scored, as the first half ended the Vikings had a 35-32 lead going into halftime .
During the second half Santa Ana started to gain momentum and kept scoring on the Vikings defense, making multiple shots including key three pointers.
The lack of offensive and defensive rebounds gave Santa Ana more opportunities to have possessions and score. Along with not being able to shoot the ball well the vikings were trialing Santa Ana.
Guard Kaileb Webb draws an offensive foul on Santa Ana’s Cameron Swist. The Vikings lost the first game of the season 73-62 at home on Oct. 29. (Matthew Bautista)
Head Coach Barry Barnes talked about the lack of offensive rebounds and not being able to contain the ball down the stretch
“ We hit ourselves in the foot, number one couldn’t contain the basketball, number two did a terrible job at offensive rebounding and free throws and we didn’t get the tough possession man. We didn’t battle and get the tough possession you win games like this with heart and battle and compete and we didn’t do it down the stretch” Coach Barnes said.
At the end the Vikings attempted to comeback but Santa Ana kept making shots and getting to the free throw line to extend their lead and the Vikings lost the game 73-62 falling to a 0-1 record to start the season.
The Vikings will have their next game at home vs Rio Hondo College on Friday Nov. 7 at 5 p.m.
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