East Los Angeles 94, Merritt 83

On Friday night, it was East Los Angeles College winning 94-83 over Merritt College down in the Southland. The score was 44 apiece at halftime.

Freshman D.J. (Pittsburg High) Kennedy paced the Thunderbirds with 20 points, Travon King posted a 19 point, 11 rebound (eight offensively) double-double while Denzel (McClymonds High) Bellot and Jovontae (El Cerrito High) Carleton each totaled 14 points. The latter collected eight boards.

Merritt shooting: 38.2% overall, 23.8 from long distance and 20-31 at the foul line.

ELAC shooting: 44.4% overall, 27.8% from long distance and 33-39 at the foul line.

The Thunderbirds won the battle of the boards 47-40 but pilfered nine steals to 15 for the opponents.

The CCCAA game reports.

Steve Ramirez game reports.

Bryce Ronquillo:

"The East Los Angeles men’s basketball team will advance to the CCCAA State Championship after beating Merritt College, 94-83.

This is the first time the ELAC men’s basketball team will play in a state championship game.

The Huskies face Saddleback College at Cerritos College at 1 p.m. The Gauchos defeated Cañada College, 75-68, in overtime.

Sophomore forward Primitivo Gomez led the way for the Huskies as he scored 23 points and collected 12 rebounds.

“I was just reading what the defense gave me and my teammates did a great job of getting me the ball,” Gomez said.

Defensively, the Huskies were able to force 19 Merritt turnovers.

“We played solid defense,” Gomez said. “We need to tighten things up when rebounding.”

ELAC allowed Merritt to pull down 27 offensive rebounds. This allowed them to stay in the game. Merritt sophomore forward Travon King pulled down eight offensive rebounds and led his team in scoring with 19 points.

The Huskies had an excellent shooting night from the free-throw line. They shot 33-for-39, 17 of them coming in the second half."

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