Warriors Fall to Compton in Final Home Game of Season

TORRANCE, Calif. --- El Camino College suffered a 79-70 South Coast Conference loss to visiting Compton on Wednesday evening at the ECC Gym Complex.

Sophomore Billy Ray Barnes III led all scorers with 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting in the final home game of his Warriors career. He added a game-high seven assists and grabbed five boards.

Freshman Shamar Carter added 18 points and eight rebounds with Zachary Bates pitching in with 12 points with four 3-pointers.

For the Tartars, Jontue Cooper led the team with 17 points with Jake TenBerge adding 16 and Damajay Washington dropping 14 points in the win.

The Warriors led 10-9 with 13:47 left in the first half but a layup from Cooper put the Tartars ahead for what turned out to be the rest of the game. The Warriors trailed by as many as 17 points in the second half but managed to cut it down to five points with 1:10 left in regulation on a 3-pointer from Carter off a great pass from Barnes III.

The defense then forced a turnover and Jedaiah Mortimer was fouled with 51 seconds left, sending him to the line for a chance to get the deficit down to three points. But Mortimer missed both and the Tartars made all their free throws in the final minute to ice the game.

The Warriors will close out the regular season on Friday at L.A. Harbor. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m.