#4 Ranked SCC falls in Season Opener to #9 Long Beach City

Santiago Canyon College entered the 2022-23 season as the pre-season ranked 4th team in Southern California and opened with a tough 9th ranked opponent in Long Beach City.  Long Beach City, with four returning starters, looked impressive in the first half and hung on in the second half for a 89-79 victory.  The Hawks struggled to start the game, but battled back valiantly to make it a game down the wire.

In the first half, the Vikings jumped out quick and took an 11-2 lead early in the game and saw their lead stretch to over 20 points.  The Hawks battled back during the last five minutes of the half and had the deficit to 14 points with the score 49-35 at halftime.  Long Beach City connected on 6 three-pointers in the half while shooting 54.1% from the floor.  Leading the way for SCC in scoring in the first half was Aaron Wadman with 7 points while Damien Parker and Garrett Andre both chipped in with 6 points.

The Hawks came out strong in the second half and showed why they are the 4th ranked team in SoCal.  They were able to cut the lead to 6 points with 5 minutes remaining in the game, but couldn't find a way to pull off the comeback win.  SCC had a poor shooting night from the three-point line throughout the game as they shot 4 for 26 from deep, including only 1 for 18 in the second half.  Wadman finished with a game high 29 points, while Parker and fellow freshman, Kai Smith, scored 16 points and 12 points respectively.  

Santiago Canyon will be back in action on Saturday to wrap up the Santa Ana College Tournament as they face Glendale College. Tip-off is set for 2:00pm.