Riverside City College men’s basketball team loses in their first scrimmage against Southwestern College 76-74.
RCC started off the game by taking a five-point lead. The Tigers capitalized by gaining a 12-3 lead. Defensively, the Tigers forced multiple turnovers and blocked many shots.
As the first half progressed, the Jaguars gained momentum and started scoring, before a timeout was called, trailing behind the Tigers 19-14.
After the timeout, the Tigers stayed ahead, but the Jaguars kept trailing right behind and eventually took a 28 -26 lead. The Jaguars maintained their lead over the Tigers, as they would finish the first half with a score of 40–31.
The second half began with the Tigers slowly chipping away at the Jaguars’ lead. After multiple scores from the Jaguars and an alley-oop, a timeout would be called with the Jaguars leading the Tigers 51-39.
Following a Tiger timeout, the Tigers came back with a newfound energy and scored multiple times, trailing the Jaguars 55-52 before forcing the Jaguars to call a timeout. The Tigers continued to score after the timeout and briefly took a one-point lead after an alley-oop.
“When we stick to the game plan, we look really well, so then once we got right back to that, we cut the lead right back down, and we made it a good game,” head coach Andre Wilson said.
The rest of the half, both teams traded the lead multiple times in a very competitive second half, but the Jaguars ended up on top, winning the scrimmage.
“It’s never gonna be easy, so you just have to keep working, patch your mistakes and keep playing.” guard Tylon Williams said
Although the Tigers lost, they demonstrated considerable potential for the upcoming season. This scrimmage also marked the first game for the new head coach. Wilson and his team showed immense potential moving forward.
“We got brand new teammates, a brand new coach. We all come together as a team.” guard Kollen Murphy said.
They’ll play their final scrimmage at home against Palomar College at 11 a.m. on Oct. 25 before the regular season begins.
