While the Long Beach State men’s basketball team was winning its home opener across town, the LBCC Vikings were taking care of business in their first game on the home court, handling Rio Hondo in a 70-60 non-conference win in the Hall of Champions Gym.

Fresh off their Irvine Valley Classic tournament championship last week, tonight’s win improved the Vikings to 4-1 overall.  LBCC held a narrow 31-27 halftime lead before blowing the game open with an 11-3 run to start the second half, including a pair of three-pointers by sophomore guard Tyler Mitchell. The Vikings led 42-29 and coasted the rest of the way for the win.

Long Beach was lead by freshman forward Lane Whitney’s game-high 18 points. He also added six rebounds and three assists. Mitchell came off the bench to post 17 points as he was 5 for 7 from three-point range.  Sophomore guard Andrew Gabellieri added 12 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.

The LBCC men return to action next weekend (Nov. 28-30) when they will compete at the Bakersfield College tournament.

From LBCC reports