Smith Shines, leads MiraCosta to Two Wins

Men's Basketball Team Picture

After the Thanksgiving break the MiraCosta men's basketball team took their show on the road, traveling to West LA College for a three-day tournament.  Still short-handed, the Spartans looked like they  ate too much turkey against LA Valley College. After a slow start and trailing at the half, MiraCosta woke up and outscored their opponents 35-30 in the second half to win a nail biter 63-62.

Lucky for the Spartans Kobe Smith made it back from his trip home to Tennessee.  With just three seconds left in the game against LA Valley, and trailing by three, Smith made a 3-point shot and was fouled.  After he coverted the free throw, the Spartans took the lead and held on to earn the victory.

The Spartans got a big performance from freshman point guard Lee Hubbard III, finishing with 19 points.  Remington Rofer also made a nice impact scoring 13 points, grabbing four rebounds and adding two assists and two steals. Smith finished with 11 points and nine rebounds, just missing another double-double performance.

 

On day two of the tournament MiraCosta matched up against highly ranked Long Beach City College. With only seven active players on the MiraCosta roster, the pace of the game was just too much.  The Spartans dropped the game 106-94 but didn't go quietly.  Kobe Smith finished with an impressive 37 points and 12 rebounds. Lee Hubbard III scored 19 and grabbed five rebounds.  Remington Rofer did a little bit of everything with 12 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals.  Freshman Javion Langton scored 11 points and grabbed four rebounds.  Langston missed the first six games with an injury and was a welcome addition to the line up for MiraCosta.  

 

On the last day of the tournament the Spartans faced off against conference foe, Southwestern.  MiraCosta already played Southwestern once earlier in the year, winning 62-59.  This time around the game had the same result.  The Spartans won a close game in overtime, with the final score of 70-66.

Smith, Hubbard III and Rofer led the scoring with 22, 18 and 15 respectively.  Langston scored seven points and added 11 rebounds. Freshman forward Dylan Cabs added five rebounds, four assists and a steal.