Men’s Basketball: Roadrunners can’t hold halftime lead, fall at Chaffey 61-58

Rio Hondo College led 33-26 at halftime at Chaffey College on Tuesday night before the Panthers turned up the intensity in the second half and ultimately overcame the Roadrunners to hand Rio Hondo a narrow 61-58 non-conference loss.

Chaffey (2-4) opened up the second with a 13-3 run to jump ahead 39-36 with 16 minutes to play. The two battled, exchanging leads until the score was tied for a final time at 58-58 after a layup by Rio Hondo's Andre Batiste at the 3:03 mark.

Both teams went cold from that point and the score remained even until Isaiah Barcelo sank one of two free throws with 10 seconds remaining to put the Panthers ahead for good. The Roadrunners turned the ball over on their final possession and Jozelle Carter nailed a pair of free throws with two seconds left to secure the Chaffey win.

Sebastian Lara led Rio Hondo with 16 points on the night while Alwyn Saddler IV came off the bench to score 14 points. Shymar Wiggins contributed 11 points and 5 rebounds and Batiste led the Roadrunners with 10 boards to go with 4 points.

Rio Hondo dropped to 1-7 overall and will look to snap a four-game losing streak when the Roadrunners return to action on Dec. 3 at the three-day Gregg Anderson Memorial Tournament at Antelope Valley College. Rio Hondo is set to face MiraCosta College at 3 p.m.