The Mountie Men’s basketball team participated in their annual Mt. SAC Mountie Classic Basketball tournament over the weekend; winning their first game on Friday, but losing the next two games by a combined seven points.

As the hosts of the Mountie Classic, the Mountaineers looked poised to assert their dominance in the first game of the tournament, as they won in a lopsided victory against Middlebrooks Academy 86-65. They were led by their guard play in Darrell Williams who made 8 three-pointers on the night which propelled him to lead the team in scoring with 26 all together; and Corey Grant, who did not do much scoring with only one point in the game, led the team in assists with 11 dimes to set up Williams and his fellow teammates. The Mounties got their third win of the season and looked to capitalize the next day as the tournament continued.

In their second game of the classic, the Men’s team lost in a thriller against Orange Coast College, as it came down to the closing seconds. The Mounties did not score on their final possessions; however, OCC held their two-point lead until the final buzzer. The final score was 53-51 and the Mounties went to 1-1 for the tournament. Offensively, they were again led by guard Darrell Williams with 11 points and Evan Council who notched 11 points himself. As for Corey Grant, he got involved everywhere as he had an impressive night (8 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists).

The Mounties went into Sunday’s game hoping to go positive in the tournament with a win over Cerritos College. It was a game of runs as the team went down by as much as 13 points in the first half. The Mounties then cut the lead down to five but not before Cerritos would take back the lead into halftime up 23-33. Another run came as the Mounties came out of halftime refreshed and ready to go with a 9-0 run that brought the game within one. The Mounties eventually took the lead 38-36, but lost it again moments later with a Cerritos 9-0 run. The Mounties fought valiantly and closed the gap to five but that’s where it stayed, as they eventually fell 58-63 to Cerritos college.

The Mounties finished the tournament with one win and two losses. Marc Howard Jr. and Evan Council finished with 15 points each, with Mankefe Sanoe adding a double-double (15 points, 12 rebounds).

The Mountie men will travel to El Camino for their next game on Friday, Dec. 8 at 5:00 pm.