With the anticipated SoCal heavyweight matchup between East LA College men’s basketball (State #8, 19-2, 4-0) and Mt. SAC (State #3, 21-1, 4-0) looming this week, it would have been easy for the Huskies to overlook their two conference road games at Pasadena City and LA Trade Tech. The Pack have won nine out of their last 10 at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium in Pasadena, and haven’t tasted defeat in at least 15 years at Trade Tech’s gym (although they had to sweat out 93-91 win there last year). But they took care of business in both places last week, and was able to take their state-best 17-game win streak into the weekend as they prepare for the Mounties to arrive in the “E-rena” tomorrow.
For the men (15-2), their 13-game win streak is currently the the best in the state. The streak was born out a frustrating home loss to an unranked Cerritos College squad back on November 20, which ultimately caused East LA to drop four spots in the state rankings, from #18 to #22. But since then, the light has come on within the Pack. First, they scored a big road win the following week at then #5 Citrus. Then in December, they swept all their tournaments (including wins against #6 San Bernardino Valley and #17 Riverside at the RCC Hypland Classic) while earning dominant road wins at Grossmont and West Hills-Lemoore. In this month of January, they’ve won all four of their games so far by an average margin of 29.25 points per game. Coach Mosley’s crew is currently ranked #8 in the recent state poll.
In order to lay claim to the SCC-North title, the Green will need to avoid another Cerritos pitfall (losing to an unranked opponent) while wresting control from last year’s champs – the same team whom this season currently ranks #3 in the state: Mt. SAC. Interestingly enough, when the Mounties nabbed the conference crown last season, they stopped a seven-run of the Huskies winning (outright or shared) the SCC-North – an interesting case of the hunted becoming the hunter and now again the hunted. ELAC will host Mt. SAC on February 5th, and visit Walnut for the return bout on the last day of the regular season: February 21. Both teams could easily be playing for the conference title on that final day, along with a top seed in the 3C2A SoCal playoff bracket.
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instagram.com/eastsidesportsla
photos by
instagram.com/eastsidesportsla
