Riverside Reigns Supreme in Back-and-Forth Affair against LA Valley

After reigning supreme against Antelope Valley in a game that came down to the final two minutes of action on Thursday afternoon, the Riverside City College men's basketball team found themselves in another dogfight against the Los Angeles Valley College Monarchs on day two of the We Play Hard tournament at Ventura College. The Tigers remained composed down the stretch and utilized a deep roster leading to a 67-64 victory.

Riverside jumped out to a seven-point lead with just over eight minutes remaining in the in the first half, but that would be their largest lead of the game as LA Valley continued to hang around and keep themselves within striking distance. The Tigers fed off of an 8-3 run in that time span highlighted by a two successful jumpers from sophomore guard Jared Stokes and a three pointer from freshman guard Cam'Ron Wilson. From then on, it was a battle.

With just five minutes remaining in the game, the Monarchs grabbed a five-point lead which shaped up to be their most sizable advantage in the contest. Riverside utilized a time out and a line change just under the five-minutes mark which rejuvenated the offense. Freshman guard Chris Harper and sophomore guard Rico Tate pulled the Tigers within two points of the lead compliments of consecutive lay ups.

Despite LA Valley hitting a jumper to go back up by three, freshman guard Tyree Winborn flushed a three pointer to knot the score up at 64-all. Sophomore guard CJ Clark followed with a treball on the following possession to put the final nail in LA Valley's coffin leading to a 67-64 victory.

Riverside continued to cart an effective offense as seen in a 47.2 percentage shooting mark from the floor. They hit eight shots from downtown which annulled another poor night from charity stripe (64.3%).

Clark, who earned his first start since the 2016-17 campaign, finished with a team-high 12 points to go along with two assists and one rebounds. Wilson backed him with a career-high 10 points in his second-consecutive start.

Stokes, who started in last night's game, came off the bench for 10 points, while Tate followed him of the bench for seven points. He also had four rebounds, two assists, and one steal.

Riverside (2-0) will face off against the Pasadena City College Lancers on Saturday, November 3 at 3 p.m. in the final day of the "We Play Hard" tournament at Ventura College.