MONTEREY PARK, Calif. - After pulling off an upset to advance to round two of the 3C2A SoCal Regionals, the No.19 seeded Santa Ana College Men's Basketball team traveled to East LA College to face the No. 2 seeded Huskies (27-2) on Saturday night.
The Dons (18-14) took an early 20-13 thanks to a quick start by Mac West. The sophomore guard out of San Juan Capistrano had nine of the first 20 points while also grabbing four rebounds in the short span.
Santa Ana made a few more shots in the first half but lost the momentum after giving up a few transition layups and seeing both Ben Ahinaquah and Ja'Von Maxwell find themselves in foul trouble.
The Dons went into the break trailing 35-31 despite allowing the Huskies to shoot 46.4 percent from the field.
In the second half, the East LA lead ballooned to as much as 13 points but a few stops, missed ELAC free throws and layups from Jackson Brennan and Kamaury Washington made it a game (71-65) down the stretch.
With 42 seconds left in the game, the Dons got another defensive stop and pushed the ball down the court. Brennan wasn't given many open looks throughout the game but he sprinted to the open wing in transition for a good look from three. Unfortunately, the shot that would have cut the lead to just three came up short, giving the Huskies the last break they needed.
West led SAC with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting with five boards while Brennan notched a double-double, scoring 15 and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Camron Swist finished the night with 11 points while Washington scored 10 off the bench.
The Dons played small for much of the second half as Ahinaquah and Maxwell fouled out with just under 15 minutes left in the second half. Sophomore forward Kelvonte Ellis (6'3) did his best to battle with the ELAC 6'8 and over frontcourt, coming away with six points and six boards while playing a game high 37 minutes.
Santa Ana had one of their best seasons in recent history as they reached the playoffs for the first time since the 2013-14 season. The Dons will lose several sophomores but hope to make another run next year with players like Brennan and Swist set to return.
