Men's Basketball: Vikings keep playoff hopes alive with 71-55 win over El Camino

Sophomore forward Stephan Heard (Jordan HS) had game-highs of 22 points and 16 rebounds to help lead the Long Beach City College men's basketball team to a much-needed 71-55 South Coast Conference South Division win over visiting El Camino College on Wednesday night at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.

The win keeps the Vikings' playoff hopes alive and improved their record to 13-11 overall and 8-4 in the SCC South. Los Angeles Harbor College has already clinched the SCC South Division championship and the automatic Southern California playoff berth. Long Beach will need to finish strong with a win over Harbor on Friday (Feb. 18) in its regular season finale to have a shot at an at-large playoff spot.

Heard and sophomore center Kyle Clark (Lakewood HS) both had monster games for the Vikings on Wednesday. Clark totaled 17 points and 11 rebounds, but it was freshman guard Raynard Tyler (Jordan HS) that came up with big shots when LBCC needed it most.

El Camino staked a 25-21 halftime lead and was up by seven points (34-27) at the 16:46 mark in the second before Long Beach slowly made its way back in the contest.

The Vikings surged on a 12-4 run to take the lead. Tyler's three-pointer at 11:30 gave LBCC a 39-38 advantage and his second straight three-point basket on the Vikings' next trip down the court gave them the lead for good at 42-39 with 11:15 left in the game.

From that point it was all Long Beach. The Vikings scored 13 of the next 18 points, including six points from Heard to take a commanding 55-44 lead with 8:04 to go in the game.

Tyler closed the game with 16 points, seven rebounds, and five assists. Freshman forward Robert Mandingo (Dominguez HS) came off the bench to record four big steals in the second half to go with six rebounds.

Christen Clark led El Camino (9-16, 2-10 SCC) with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Long Beach's contest on Friday against Harbor is scheduled for 6 p.m., an hour earlier that the normal 7 p.m. tipoff time.