In the first half of their South Coast Conference game against Long Beach City College, the Cerritos College men's basketball team tried to match three-pointers. But the Vikings, who netted 13 of them on the night, drained 10 of them in the first half and carried that to a 91-78 decision. The Falcons (8-11, 2-2) will now host East Los Angeles College in a 7:00 p.m. crossover game against East Los Angeles College.

Each time Cerritos was able to get within five points, the Vikings (14-4, 3-0) hit another shot to hold them off. The duo of Brandon Staton (21 points) and Elijah Gaines (22 points) combined for eight treys and weren't affected by the Falcons out-rebounding them, 43-31. The downfall for Cerritos came at the free throw line, where they were 20-for-35 on the night, including 8-for-18 in the second half.

Freshman Jay Merriweather (Temescal Canyon HS) was able to keep up with the LBCC duo, as he netted 5-of-6 from three-point range and finished with 20 points. He was joined by sophomore Jeff Gonzalez (Riverside Poly HS/Riverside City College), who led the team with 21 points and converted 7-of-12 shots, with most of them coming in the paint.

In addition to their struggles at the free throw line, the Falcons posted 17 turnovers, which Long Beach City turned into 20 points. Another bright spot on the night was the play of sophomore Josh Bell (Long Beach Wilson HS), who had 16 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, while freshman Jonathan Brown (Fairfax HS) finished with 11 points and four assists.

Cerritos was playing without the services of leading scorer Micah Winn (Crenshaw HS), who was forced to miss the game after being ejected in the team's win over El Camino College on Wednesday.

Photos by Daryl Peterson