The Bakersfield College men's college team escape with thrilling 76-71 overtime victory over LA Valley College in Western State Conference-South action at the Gil Bishop Sports Center on Saturday.

Sophomore point guard Jameik Rivière scored first seven points of the second half to help the Renegades (20-4, 9-1 WSC) erase a 33-31 halftime deficit.

BC, the No. 12 ranked team in the state, went on to lead by as many as nine points in second before Isaiah Cooper made an off balanced three-pointer to tie the game with two seconds left in regulation.

The Monarchs (9-13, 5-5 WSC) jumped to a 64-61 advantage in overtime but BC closed the game out on a 15-7 run to maintain it's two-game lead atop the WSC South standings.

"It's not the way we wanted it but I think it's good for us because trying to win a conference title we're going to get everyone's best," BC coach Rich Hughes said. "We have to learn to play in those situations because if we're fortunate enough to make the playoffs it's going to be the same thing, a possession-for-possession game. I'm just glad we were able to respond in overtime."

Rivière finished with a game-high 28 points and had 10 rebounds and 6 assists.

James Pendleton added 17 points and Deandre Dickson chipped 10 points and 22 rebounds for the Renegades, who improved to 8-0 at home this season.

"He (Jameik) is a warrior," Hughes said. "I've seen it for two years. He's one of those guys who will never ever quit. It took him awhile to get going but once got going there was no way we were going to lose."

Michael Morrissey, the state's third leading scorer coming into the night, paced LA Valley with 24 points.

BC shot just 30.9-percent from the field. However that was slightly better than the Monarchs (30.1-percent).



The Bakersfield College women's basketball team was out-scored 20-6 to close out the the first half and the Renegades never recovered, losing 61-50 to LA Valley College at the Gil Bishop Sports Center on Saturday night.

BC (4-16, 3-7 WSC) led 13-10 before the Monarchs (11-12, 7-3 WSC) used their size advantage inside to dominate the boards and take control of the game.

The Monarchs had 23 offensive rebounds, including 17 during the first half.

Kennedy Nielson had 16 points and MacKaiela registered 11 points, 7 rebounds, and four assists for BC, which cut LA Valley second-half lead of 16 points to seven late but couldn't pull any closer.

Diamond O'Connor lad the Monarchs in scoring (21 points) and rebounds (12).

"Tonight I thought was a huge defensive battle," BC coach Paula Dahl said. "I was really proud of my kids. We had a hard time finding the bottom of the basket. Last time these guys just killed us. We knew rebounding would be difficult. They rebound very, very well. But we brought it defensively and we had a shot there at the end...I thought my kids played really gutsy ball and phenomenal defense."

The Renegades play Glendale College (11-11, 7-3)  next on Wednesday, February 10th, at 7p in the Gil Bishop Sports Center.