Barnes’ Buzzer-Beater Lifts ELAC Past Pasadena City, 71–68

(recap assisted by AI... somewhat)

MONTEREY PARK — After trailing by as many as 19 in the second half, East Los Angeles College men's basketball authored one of its most dramatic wins of the season, sealing a 71–68 victory over Pasadena City College on sophomore PG Jayden Barnes' game-winning three-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining.

Pasadena City carried a 45–30 halftime lead into the break thanks to a hot shooting streak from behind the arc - an unfortunate first-half trend most Husky opponents tend to have this season. But midway through the second half, ELAC took a more rugged edge on both halves of the court. With PCC up by 20, 64-44, with 10:42 left, sophomore F Terrence Hampton set the tone, grabbing an offensive rebound off a Isiah Hill miss and converting a putback to ignite the comeback. Moments later, sophomore G Landon Winston jumped a passing lane for a steal, leading to a Quinlan Daly three-pointer — assisted by Barnes — that cut into the deficit and energized the Husky bench.

From there, the Huskies locked in defensively. ELAC forced turnovers on consecutive possessions, with steals by Winston and the freshman Daly, and began converting stops into points at the free-throw line. The home Green would gradually erode the Lancers' lead, with Winston's three-pointer at the 3:28 mark — again set up by Barnes — pulling ELAC within 66–61 and officially putting Pasadena City on notice.

The final minutes turned into a grind. Pasadena City made only one more field goal, a Churchill Ikenador jumper that momentarily pushed PCC's lead back up four, 68-64. Freshman F Adrionne Marcus scored on a putback to cut PCC's lead to 68–66, and ELAC's defense delivered again when Daly blocked a layup with one minute left. Barnes then tied the game at 68–68 with a pull-up jumper with 37 seconds remaining, setting the stage for a memorable finish.

After ELAC forced one final stop — highlighted by a Hampton block and rebound — head coach John Mosley called a timeout to set up his offense back out with 10.1 seconds left. Barnes took the inbound, dribbled to the top of the three-point arc and rose up from beyond the arc as time nearly expired.

He buried the buzzer-beating three, sending the Huskies and the home crowd into a frenzy... well, it was almost a buzzer beater because the referees stated there was 0.4 seconds left when the trey was made. Pasadena inbounded the ball to about 10-feet short of halfcourt but couldn't get a shot off before the clock hit 0.0.

HUSKY BITS

• Jayden Barnes finished with 16 points, three assists, and the game winner,
• Landon Winston added 16 points with key shooting and defensive plays throughout the rally.
• Terrence Hampton posted a dominant 14-point, 10-rebound double-double, and
• Adrionne Marcus, ranked second in the state for field-goal percentage, contributed 14 points off the bench on 6-10 shooting.

UP NEXT:

The Huskies continue their three-game conference home stand on Wednesday when they host an improved LA Trade Tech squad at 5pm.