Men's Basketball: Long Beach stays on top of SCC standings with 71-57 win over East L.A.

Freshman guard Robert Mandingo totaled 14 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists off the bench to spark the Long Beach City College men's basketball team to a 71-57 South Coast Conference interdivision win over visiting East Los Angeles College on Wednesday night at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.

The victory keeps Long Beach on top of the SCC South Division standings at 6-1 and improved the Vikings to 11-8 overall.

Long Beach played tough defense in the first half, limiting East L.A. to just 8 of 29 shooting. The Vikings also converted 13 ELAC first-half turnovers into 14 points and held a 35-24 advantage at the break.

The Huskies were able to carry over some late first-half momentum into the second. East L.A. opened the second half with a 10-6 run to get within seven points at 41-34 at the 14:37 mark.

But Long Beach answered with a 10-0 run of its own over the next two minutes to put the game out of reach. Freshman guard Devonte Norton scored six of his 12 points during the run and sophomore center Kyle Clark and Mandigo both added buckets to give LBCC a commanding 51-34 lead at the 12:35 mark.

Clark also had a big game for the Vikings, posting 12 points, seven rebounds, three steals, and two blocks. Sophomore Stephan Heard added nine points and seven rebounds despite playing in foul trouble most of the contest.

Deon Geary came off the bench to post a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead East L.A. (8-13, 3-4 SCC).

The Long Beach men return to action on Friday (Jan. 28) when they travel to nearby El Camino College Compton Center for a 7 p.m. SCC interdivision contest.