Men's basketball overtakes Monarchs in 105-92 game

Behind a 50 percent shooting performance, the Santa Monica College Corsairs men's basketball team defeated the Los Angeles Valley College Monarchs 105-92, Saturday. Santa Monica could not miss from the field in the first half. Freshman guard Derrien King put on a show as he went 5-6 from the perimeter and had 21 points at halftime.

The three headed monster of King, sophmore guard Jerry Shevlin, and freshman guard Brandon Baker were giving the monarchs fits of frustration all game. Baker would attack and Shevlin and King were able to knock down jumpers. At the half the Corsairs had a 54-38 lead and looked they were going to run away with the game.

However, at the half, the blue and white's defense caught a case of the itis.

SMC saw a 20-point lead slip to only 5 as freshman guard Jordan Brown for the Monarchs caused havoc. Brown led the Monarchs and only missed 2 shots in the second half and finished the game with 45 points.

However, Shevlin responded as King cooled off, turing the final minuets of the game into a duel between Brown and the versatile Shevlin.

"I think [Brown] is a very good basketball player, but one player can’t beat you,” SMC head coach Jerome Jenkins

The Corsairs team defense came up big late in the game. Admassu Williams was key as he grabbed rebounds and blocked shots to help anchor the Corsairs defense. Shevlin and Baker pushed the Corsairs to a double-digit lead to help spark the Corsairs to a big home victory.

"On defense I did not like as many points as we gave up.” Jenkins said. “We still are not as tough as I want us to be defensively. We got a long way to go defensively."

King finished the game with 27 points on 10-14 from the field and 5-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Shevlin ended up with 23 points, 5 assists, and shot 9-15 from the field and 4-5 from the perimeter. Baker finished with 17 points, shot 50% from the perimeter and had 3 steals. Williams pulled scored 13 points and 11 rebounds and 2 block shots. Damon Harvin added 8 points off the bench on 4-9 shooting.

"I think we got a lot of weapons. We got to share the ball, love each other a little bit more we will be hard to guard.”

The next game is Wednesday at West Los Angeles College.