SANTA MONICA – The 2023-24 Rio Hondo College men's basketball season got off to a rocky start this past weekend at the O'Fallon and Singui Classic. The two-day event was hosted by Santa Monica College.

On Thursday, the Roadrunners had the difficult task of opening the year against one of the top teams in the state and suffered a 104-75 loss to No. 4 San Diego City College. Rio Hondo came back to play a more competitive game on Saturday but lost 66-60 to Compton College to close out the weekend.

Rio Hondo fell behind early against the SDCC Knights and couldn't recover. Bryant Handley had a big game off the bench, leading the Roadrunners with 19 points. Colby Evans scored 13 points while Marcus Middleton had a good all-around debut with 9 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals.

The Roadrunners and Tartars battled in their contest with the two squads exchanging leads throughout. Rio Hondo tied up the game at 58-58 with 1:58 left in the second half thanks to a Bryen Williams layup. But from that point, Compton closed out the game outscoring the Roadrunners 8-2 to secure its win.

Handley, this time in the starting lineup, had a team-high 14 points to go with 4 boards. Mike Bial added 10 points and 4 assists while Williams contributed 9 points and 5 rebounds.

Rio Hondo, now 0-2 overall, returns to action on Wednesday (Nov. 15) when the Roadrunners host Santa Ana College in a 5 p.m. non-conference game.