Seahawks Ungracious Hosts to Visiting Tartars, 91-80

The Los Angeles Harbor College basketball team turned out to be an ungracious host as the Seahawks upset Compton College, 91-80, in their Southern California Athletic Conference opener Wednesday.

The Seahawks (8-1, 1-0) were sparked by the play of sophomore Keith Billingslea who scored a game high 26 points.

“We finally got him to stop shooting 3-pointers and go inside where he is most effective,” Harbor Coach Ken Curry said.

In the game’s early going, the Tartars, ranked 10th in Southern California by the Community College Sports Information Directors, took a 12-4 lead.

Harbor managed to stay close and eventually take the lead in the closing moments of the half on the shooting of sophomore Jerome Hendrix, who scored 15.

Hendrix scored a total of 19 points before fouling out in the second half.

The turning point of the seesaw first half came with 4 minutes to play. With the score knotted at 23, Billingslea drove down the base line and was fouled as he forcefully dunked the ball, making a 3-point play.

“That . . . the dunk shifted the momentum in our favor,” Curry said. “I was as surprised as anyone when he did that. It really got the rest of the players fired up.”

The Seahawks scored the first 6 points of the second half to blow the game open. They led by as much as 19 points in the second half.

Compton (10-8, 0-1) climbed to within 10 at 64-54 with 3:25 remaining. The Seahawks then scored 6 unanswered points to dash the hopes of a Tartar comeback.

The Tartars were led by Andre Stovall with 26 points and Edwin Pritchet with 18.