Men's Basketball: Vikings win third straight, beat L.A. Trade Tech 77-70

Freshman forward Jared Garber scored a game-high 20 points to help lead the Long Beach City College men's basketball team to a 77-70 South Coast Conference interdivision win over visiting Los Angeles Trade Tech College on Wednesday night at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.

The win was the Vikings' third straight and improved their record to 8-7 overall. It also avenged an 82-78 loss to the Beavers last month at the Saddleback College tournament.  

Long Beach led from the start of the contest and was up by as many as 19 points in the second half and had to hold off a late Trade Tech surge to earn the victory.

The Vikings were impressive in the first half, holding Trade Tech to just 8 of 26 shooting over the opening 20 minutes of the game. Garber scored 15 of his 20 points in the first half while LBCC shot 18 of 41 from the floor.

Long Beach held a commanding 42-27 lead at halftime before the Beavers turned up the offense in the second.

Trade Tech got as close as five points (60-55) at the 6:37 mark and was within six points (76-70) with just 36 seconds to play before the Vikings were able to close out the win.

Freshman guard Raynard Tyler posted 18 points, five rebounds, and four assists for the Vikings. Sophomore center Kyle Clark had a big game in just 24 minutes of play. He totaled 12 points, five rebounds, and four blocks before fouling out midway through the second half.

Trade Tech (11-6) was led Martin Whitmore's 19 points. Timothy Johnson came off the bench to post 12 points and five rebounds.

Long Beach returns to action on Friday when it travels to El Camino College for a 7 p.m. South Coast Conference South Division game.