CCSF 74, LPC 73

In Livermore last night, City College of San Francisco edged Las Positas College 74-73. Sophomore guard Trevor (Washington State/St. Ignatius) Dunbar led the Rams with 20 points, freshman guard Zachary (Berkeley High) Copeland provided 16 points and Jalen ((Casper College/St. Patrick-St. Vincent) Canty 11.

LPC athletics: "LPC’s sophomores almost went out in style Wednesday night in their last regular-season home game.

Despite not playing their best basketball and making only 55 percent of their free throws, the Hawks nearly pulled off the upset of the season before losing 74-73 to Coast Conference North Division champion City College of San Francisco.

Considering that CCSF entered the game ranked #2 in the state and #1 in Northern California, had clinched the conference title at 11-0, sported a 26-1 overall record, had already beaten LPC by 53 points, and was riding a 17-game winning streak, a Hawks victory seemed unlikely.

Still, LPC had the final possession and an opportunity to not only pull off the upset, but also to record a team-record eighth conference victory and solidify a favorable seeding in the upcoming NorCal regional playoffs. With 3.9 seconds remaining, the Hawks had to go the length of the floor, but they couldn’t manage to get a shot off before the final buzzer sounded.

Thus, LPC, which is ranked #16 in the state and #8 in Northern California, dropped into third place with a 7-4 record, one game behind 8-3 Chabot. The Hawks, 17-9 overall, have never finished higher than third in the conference and will have to win their final regular season game Friday at Skyline and hope 4-7 Ohlone can upset Chabot for LPC to finish tied for second.

Against CCSF, the Hawks trailed most of the first half before pulling even at 24-24 on a layup by Kameron Johnson. CCSF led 32-30 before Darius Limbrick hit a three with 15 seconds left in the half to put the Hawks up 33-32 at halftime. LPC made only 5 of 11 free throws in the first half (15 of 27 for the game).

The Hawks began the second half with possession, then promptly threw the ball away on the inbounds pass. CCSF made a three to take the lead and never trailed the rest of the game. Nine minutes into the second half, the Rams went on an 11-2 spurt, building a 57-44 advantage.

But Cameron Moses made a free throw, Brandon Eboigbodin threw down a dunk, and Moses followed with a three-point play to get the Hawks back into the game at 57-50 midway through the half.

CCSF seemingly had the game under control at 72-61 with 4:08 remaining, but LPC took advantage of some shoddy Rams free throw shooting and got a bucket inside from McKayle Harnell, two free throws from Johnson and a three from Johnson to pull within 72-68 at the 2:19 mark.

After a CCSF free throw, the teams traded turnovers before Limbrick nailed a three with 1:01 left to make it 73-71. The Rams countered with another free throw, then Johnson corralled an offensive rebound and scored while being fouled with 35.1 seconds left, making it a one-point game.

Johnson missed the foul shot, and the Rams rebounded. LPC elected not to foul and ended up forcing a shot clock violation with 3.9 seconds remaining to set up the potential game-winner that never happened.

Johnson led the Hawks with 18 points, Moses had 15, Limbrick had 12, and Harnell added 10.

Moses, Limbrick, Harnell, and Eboigbodin were honored before the game as sophomores playing their final regular-season contest at LPC."