For the first 17 minutes Wednesday night, the unrated Pasadena City College men's basketball team went basket-for-basket against state No. 6 Long Beach City College. The Lancers led 23-17 and then 30-29 after a 3-pointer by Giovonni Jackson.
But the Vikings are ranked as high as they are for a reason as they ran off nine straight points to end the first half and then kept the scoring run going in the second half. By the time Jeremiah Sadler banked in a field goal, LBCC had completed a 21-0 spurt and led by 20 points, 50-30. The entire run lasted only 5 minutes, 17 seconds but it was enough to dig a hole that PCC would not recover from in an 80-69 loss to Long Beach at Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium.
PCC had its mini, 3-game win streak snapped and fell to 11-6. Led by Jace Bass with 19 points, LBCC improved to 15-2.
The Lancers were led by Chris Blount with 18 points and eight rebounds and Jackson, who tallied 16 points. Khristion Courseault added 11 points and Ivan Egbunike had eight points and eight boards off the bench. London Farmer also scored four points in reserve.
While Pasadena fell way behind, it did claw its way back, trimming the lead to just six points, 66-60, when Farmer made a steal and basket with 5:35 left. Long Beach responded immediately with seven straight points capped by a 3-pointer by Aaron Jelks that put a dagger into the Lancers comeback.
The Vikings made nine 3-point baskets to just two by PCC. Another factor for LBCC was its bench that produced 27 points including 13 (and seven rebounds) by Kester Ofoegbu.
PCC is now 4-2 in home games this season.
The Lancers finish their crossover tour of the South Coast Conference South Division on Friday, Jan. 18 when they play at state No. 10-ranked Cerritos College. Tip-off is 6 p.m.