By John M. Sherrard
(PASADENA) The Mt. SAC Men's Water Polo team opened the post season with a split on the first of the two-day South Coast Conference Tournament at Pasadena City College Friday.
An easy 17-2 victory over El Camino College in the morning was followed by a second loss this season to nemesis Cerritos College, 16-14, which knocked the Mounties out of a chance at the tournament championship game on Saturday.
Cerritos, which narrowly defeated the Mounties in conference play last month, 19-18, will play for the SCC tournament title against Long Beach City College.
No. 3 seed Mt. SAC will play Rio Hondo on Saturday for third place in hopes of a victory and a No. 6 seed in the So Cal Regionals next week at Golden West College.
Sophomore Scott McDill led the Mounties with a game-high six goals against El Camino, while sophomore Thomas Randles added four. Seven other players had one goal each.
Randles, meanwhile had six steals and sophomore driver Renin Devito had five for the Mounties.
Mt. SAC, behind a shutout in the first half by sophomore goalie Andres Jaramillo (14 saves), took a 14-0 lead at the break behind six goals from McDill.
In the highly contested Cerritos contest no team had more than a two-goal lead and there were eight ties.
The game was tied, 14-14, with :32 seconds left but the Falcons scored two late goals to pull out the victory.
Mt. SAC, which was without one of its top scorers, Jeffrey Silverberg, was trailing, 14-11, with :31 seconds left in the third quarter before they scored a late goal in the third and two consecutive goals (Cristian Lopez, McDill) in the fourth for the 14-14 tie.
Silverberg, who is second in scoring for the Mounties fouled out of the game early in the second period.
"That hurt a bit but the team stepped up big time, though, in his place," Mt. SAC coach Marc Ruh said. "It was a big step forward for us as a team."
The seedings will be announced on Sunday for the So Cal Regionals.
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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630