The MSJC men's basketball team lost their opportunity to claim the Inland Empire Athletic Conference championship on Wednesday night as a second half surge by Chaffey was too much for the Eagles in a 110-91 loss.

The Panthers and the Eagles came into the game as the top two scoring teams in the state and the pace was frantic from the tip.  Both teams got off to hot starts once MSJC settled into the game and after a back and forth up and down first half the game was tied at 47 all.

Chaffey seemed to have the fresher legs in the second half as they slowly pulled away midway through the final 20 minutes.  The Eagles who had made 6 of 13 three pointers in the first half went just 1 of 10 in the second from long range.  Dasean Stevens continued to put up big numbers for the Eagles as he scored a team high 28 points, 19 of them came in the first half.  He also had 6 rebounds and 3 assists.  Isaiah Skinner recorded a double double for MSJC as he scored 19 and grabbed a team best 11 rebounds while also dishing out 3 assists and blocking two shots.  Jackson Bernardo also hit double figures with 10 points and Darius Mason was solid off the bench with 9 points and 7 boards.

The win clinched the IEAC title for Chaffey as they improved to 14-1 in conference play and 24-3 overall while the Eagles fell to 12-3 in league games and are also 24-3 for the year.  Both teams have only one regular season game remaining.  MSJC will travel to Barstow on Friday to wrap up the regular season, that game can be seen live on our Youtube channel, and tips off at 7 pm.

The 2024 post-season brackets will be released Sunday afternoon, stay tuned to this website and our social media platforms for details of the Eagles upcoming play-off games.