Men’s Basketball: Rio Hondo beats Cuyamaca at season-opening tourney

The Rio Hondo College men's basketball team opened the 2018-19 season over the weekend by winning one out of three games at the San Diego Miramar College Don Gehler Memorial Tournament.

The Roadrunners opened the tourney with a 91-85 loss to host Miramar on Thursday but bounced back with a 67-60 win over Cuyamaca College on Friday. And on Saturday, Rio Hondo closed its opening-weekend with a 95-79 defeat at the hands of Southwestern College.

Sophomore Uziel Felix averaged 19 points over the three-game tournament to lead the Roadrunners.

Miramar 91, Rio Hondo 85
Miramar blitzed the Roadrunners to start the game with a 9-0 run. But Rio Hondo recovered to jump ahead 44-41 with under two minutes to play in the first half. Miramar closed out the half on a 6-0 run and held on to that lead for the rest of the contest.

Rio Hondo shot 12 for 32 from three-point range but made just 28 of 67 field goals for the game.

Jonathan Martinez led the Roadrunners with 17 points and added 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Elijah McElroy also had an impressive game in his season debut. He totaled 16 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals.

Rio Hondo also got double-digit scoring from Felix (16 points) and Tysan Harris (15 points).

Rio Hondo 67, Cuyamaca 60
The Roadrunners got off to a slow start once again but rallied to go ahead midway through the first before holding off a late-game surge by the Coyotes.

Rio Hondo cooled off from three-point range, making just 4 of 17 shots from behind the arc. But the Roadrunners converted 23 of 31 free throws, which proved to be the difference in the win.

Harris was huge off the bench for the Roadrunners as he scored 15 of his game-high 17 points over the second half to spark Rio Hondo on offense.

McElroy (16 points, 6 rebounds) and Felix (16 points, 5 rebounds) also played well for the Roadrunners.

Southwestern 95, Rio Hondo 79
The Roadrunners fell behind early 31-17 to the Jaguars in the consolation bracket final which proved to be too large of a deficit to overcome.

Rio Hondo was outrebounded by a 51-35 margin which allowed Southwestern to put back 22 second-chance points --- a key factor in the loss.

Felix had his biggest game of the weekend, scoring a game-high 25 points to go with 7 rebounds. Martinez added 20 points and McElroy had 12 points for the Roadrunners.

Rio Hondo, now 1-2 overall, returns to action on Friday (Nov. 9) when the Roadrunners host Mt. San Jacinto College at 5 p.m. in their home opener.