Men’s Basketball: Rio Hondo can’t hold early lead in loss to Long Beach

Rio Hondo College sophomore Aaron Patterson scored a team-high 19 points but the Roadrunners couldn't hold on to an early lead and suffered an 87-68 South Coast Conference interdivision loss to No. 26 state-ranked Long Beach City College on Wednesday night in Whittier.

The Roadrunners held a 17-12 lead over the Vikings at the 12:47 mark in the first half after a layup by John Mims.

But Long Beach (11-4 overall) responded with a 17-2 run to go ahead 29-20 with 6:10 to play in the opening half. LBCC was up 42-33 at the break and the Roadrunners would get no closer than within nine points in the second half.

Patterson played all 40 minutes of the contest and nearly recorded a double-double with 9 rebounds. Mims came off the bench to score 16 points while Bryant Howing and Kameron Hobbs both contributed 10 points each.

Kester Ofoegbu scored a game-high 23 points for Long Beach.

The loss dropped Rio Hondo to 3-14 overall. The Roadrunners will look to snap a nine-game losing streak when they return to action on Friday (Jan. 10) at 5 p.m. with a SCC crossover game at Cerritos College.