BAKERSFIELD, CA – A late surge by the West LA Wildcats the team to hold off the Bakersfield College men's basketball team on Wednesday night. The Renegades fell to West LA, 75-71 in a two-hour delay game Wednesday night at the Gil Bishop Sports Center. BC was able to keep the current second place Western State South Conference opponents on their toes in the second half.
West LA jumped out to a 24-17 lead right at the 10-minute mark before Renegades started chipping at the Wildcats lead, cutting it to just three points at 22-25. A turnover would get the `Gades as close as one with just over 4 minutes left in the first half but the Wildcats found a way to get it back to three.
The first timeout called of the night came with under two minutes left to play, when the Wildcats led by four points. Guards Shannon Wafter and Isayas Aris split a pair of free throws to end the half trailing by four to go into the locker room at 36-40.
At the break, Tyrell Coleman, a sophomore guard, led the `Gades with 9 points while shooting exactly 50%. Aris was also effective, chipping in seven points and two rebounds.
As they did in the first half, the Wildcats began to pull away from the` Gades in the second, building a 62-53 lead with nine minutes left in the second half. Bakersfield rallied again, pulling within two points at 67-65, with 4:29 remaining. With two minutes left to play BC found their first lead of the night, but it still remained a one possession game. With three lead changes in the final two minutes the Wildcats pushed their lead back out to two points with 20 seconds remaining. Unable to find that final push they needed, the `Gades fell to their conference opponent, 75-71.
Coleman posted 25 points on 12-of-23 shooting. Aris contributed 15 points while Michael Guillory had five assists in the loss. Bakersfield came out on top with a 21-14 second chances and 46-28 in the paint.
To watch the replay of the game on Facebook click here.
The team now drops to 1-4 in conference and 13-6 on the season. They will head out for two road games next. First against LA Valley on Saturday and College of the Canyons next Wednesday.
