Last-Second Shot Downs Warriors against Fresno

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College suffered a 74-71 loss to visiting Fresno on Thursday night at the ECC Gym Complex.

EJ Johnson's corner three-pointer with one second left in regulation broke a 71-71 tie and the Warriors could not come up with an answer as time expired.

Justin Cricri led ECC with 19 points and nine rebounds with Rocco Gaffogilo adding 14 points and four steals. Kai Johnson scored 11 with four assists in the losing effort.

The Warriors led by as many as 12 points in the second half but the Rams chipped away at the ECC advantage until they tied it at 56-56 with 15:08 left in the second half. From that point the teams went back-and-forth as the game featured nine ties and 13 lead changes.

But the Rams outscored ECC 35-26 in the second half as the Warriors' offense mustered just 25.8 percent shooting in the period with seven missed free throws.

Still, the teams were tied at 71-71 with 52 seconds left. The Warriors chance to take the lead came up empty as Cricri missed a jumper in the paint, giving the ball back to Fresno with a one second difference between shot and game clock.

After a timeout, the Rams ran the clock down and broke through the ECC defense as Xavier Francis drove the lane and then kicked it to a wide open Johnson in the corner for the go-ahead three pointer.

The Warriors had one last chance with one second left but their inbound pass all the way down the court went out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Rams who ran out the clock with their last possession to secure the win.

The Warriors will return to action on Friday night to face Coalinga at 7 p.m.