M. Basketball; Eagles Take Over Second Place in IEAC with Road Win

MSJC's Jamaal Barnes continued his hot streak on Wednesday night as he scored 38 points in the Eagles win at Victor Valley.
MSJC's Jamaal Barnes continued his hot streak on Wednesday night as he scored 38 points in the Eagles win at Victor Valley.

The MSJC men's basketball team fought off a pesky Victor Valley team on Wednesday night to avenge an earlier loss this season to the Rams as they came away with a 75-59 road win.

The Eagles played just well enough in the first half to hold a three point lead at the break 32-29.  In the second half it seemed on several occasions that the Eagles were ready to make it a route, but each time they pulled away the Rams fought their way back into the game.  A 13-2 run over the final 2:24 of the contest finally gave MSJC the victory.

Jamaal Barnes continued to be a monster on the offensive end for the Eagles as he scored a game high 38 points on 13 of 28 shooting, he connected on 7 three point shots on the evening.  Kamien Cederlind also reached double figures with 12 points and Mekhi Hill had 10.  Chidi Okwarabizie nearly had a double double as he scored 8 points and hauled in a game high 10 rebounds.

The Eagles have now won 6 of their past 7 and four in a row as they improved to 13-11 overall and 9-3 in the Inland Empire Athletic Conference.  Victor Valley fell to 6-6 in the league and 9-15 overall.  MSJC, who is now in sole possession of second place in the conference, will host first place Chaffey on Saturday.  Saturday's game is part of a doubleheader with the women's team with the women to tip-off at 1 and the men to follow at 3.