Johnson Leads Warriors Past Coalinga

TORRANCE, Calif. --- Sophomore Kai Johnson led El Camino College to a 62-58 non-conference victory over Coalinga on Friday night at the ECC Gym Complex.

The sophomore guard had his best scoring output of the young season as he scored a team-high 19 points and added seven rebounds with six assists in the victory. Justin Cricri and Rocco Gaffoglio added 12 points apiece in limited minutes due to foul trouble while Vaitai Tuione led the Warriors with eight rebounds.

For the Falcons, Ryan Gomwalk led all scorers with 26 points while Kristian Graham added 14 points in the losing effort.

Offense was tough to come by for both teams for different reasons. The Falcons shot just 33.3 percent from the field and 25.9 percent from distance while the Warriors committed 19 turnovers including 14 in the second half which prevented the offense from getting any rhythm.

But the Warriors were able to get the turnovers under control in the second half and attacked the basket to get 17 trips to the charity stripe, converting on 13 of those free throws. Cricri also scored 10 of his 12 points in the period to support Johnson who went 7-of-8 from the foul line to help secure the victory.

Free throws proved to be the difference as the Warriors outscored Coalinga 8-3 in the final four minutes, all of those points coming at the charity stripe.

The Warriors will return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 12 to host Imperial Valley for a 5 p.m. tipoff.