Freshman Ikko Saito (Cerritos HS, pictured) scored a game-high six goals to lead the No. 2 state-ranked Long Beach City College men's water polo team to a 14-7 South Coast Conference win over visiting Mt. San Antonio College on Wednesday.

The Vikings' fifth consecutive win improved their overall record to 13-2 and kept them perfect in conference play at 4-0.

The game was close early before LBCC pulled away with a second-half surge.

Saito and freshman Marino Fatovic (Dubrovnic, Croatia) each scored twice in the first quarter and freshman Ian Reyes (Cerritos HS) added a goal to give the Vikings a 5-3 advantage.

The second quarter was more of a defensive battle as the teams combined to score just three goals. Freshman Nathan Pinkney (Granite Bay HS) scored twice for the Vikings before Mt. SAC' Austin Postovoit closed out the half with a goal with seven seconds left.

Long Beach held a 7-4 lead at the break before rallying to outscore the Mounties 7-3 in the second half thanks to four goals by Saito and two more from Fatovic. Freshman Nemanja Petrovic (Novi Sad, Serbia) added a goal in the fourth to close out the scoring for the Vikings.

Ricky Winters led Mt. SAC (13-8, 2-2 SCC) with three goals and Chad Gamboa scored twice.

Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Oct 18) when it will compete at the Riverside mini tournament, then on Saturday the Vikings will host their annual Alumni game at 1:30 p.m.

Photo by Chris Ruiz