Second time in three years Thunderbirds make Final Four

The Merritt College men’s basketball team saw another fine season come up short once again when the Thunderbirds lost 94–83 to East Los Angeles College in a California Community College Athletic Association State Final Four semifinal game at Cerritos College in Norwalk on March 13.
DJ Kennedy scored 20 points to lead Merritt (25–7). Travon King added 19 points and Jovantae Carlton and Denzel Bellot each had 14. King also had 11 rebounds.
The T-Birds battled to a 44–44 tie at the half, but foul shooting ultimately doomed their efforts. ELAC converted 33 of 39 attempts (84.6 percent) while Merritt hit 20 of 31 (64.5 percent) from the line. Kennedy and Mike McAllister (5 points) fouled out.
Other than that, it was pretty much dead even for two teams that got to the State Tournament despite not winning their respective conferences.
 Merritt finished second to College of Marin in the Bay Valley Conference while ELAC finished behind Mt. San Antonio College in the South Coast-North Conference.
Marcus Roman and Primitivo Gomez hit 3-point shots in the first minute of the second half for a 50–44 lead and ELAC never lost it.
Merritt, trailing just 56–55, missed two dunks in the first six minutes of the second half. Carlton hit two free throws with 1:58 left in the game to pull the T-Birds to with 83–81, but the Huskies scored five straight points for an 88–81 lead with 1:40 to go.
A Carlton basket with 3:29 left in the first half gave Merritt its first lead at 36–34.
This was Merritt’s fourth trip to the state tournament. The T-Birds finished second in 1958, sixth in 1961 and tied for third in 2013.