OXNARD – The Rio Hondo College men's basketball team picked up its first two wins of the season, earning back-to-back victories to go 2-0 at the Oxnard College Condor Classic.
The Roadrunners opened the two-day event on Friday with a 78-73 win over host Oxnard and closed out the weekend with a narrow 69-68 triumph against Merced College on Saturday.
Freshman guard Ryan Osborne led Rio Hondo with a combined 34 points and 16 rebounds over the two games.
Rio Hondo 78, Oxnard 73
The Roadrunners led 42-31 at halftime but had to overcome a late rally by the host Condors to pull out the opening-night win.
Oxnard tied up the game at 71-71 with under two minutes left in the game. But Rio Hondo responded with a 6-0 run to go ahead for good. Bode Karunwi and Osborne both sank buckets while Bobby Reyes made a pair of free throws to send the Roadrunners to the victory.
Osborne posted a double-double with season-highs of 21 points and 13 rebounds. Reyes totaled 15 points and 8 rebounds while Matthew Rodriguez nearly had a double-double of his own with 11 points and 9 rebounds.
Karunwi chipped in with 10 points off the bench and Sebastian Esparza added 9 points.
Rio Hondo 69, Merced 68
The Roadrunners overcame a 40-33 halftime deficit to complete the come-from-behind victory and head home on a winning streak.
Merced took a 68-67 lead with 22 seconds left in the contest before Osborne cut through the Blue Devils' defense for the game-winning layup with six seconds remaining. He poured in 12 points.
Karunwi led Rio Hondo with 13 points, Reyes scored 12 points, and Esparza added 10 points.
Up next: Rio Hondo, now 2-6 overall, is back in action next week when the Roadrunners will compete at the Wild West Shootout at West Los Angeles College. The three-day event opens on Thursday (Dec. 4) with the Roadrunners taking on Long Beach City College at 7 p.m.
Oxnard
Merced