The Cerritos College men's basketball team was unable to hold a 14-point second half lead in their season-opener against Santa Monica College on Friday and Biola University and suffered a 72-71 loss. The Falcons (0-1) took a 71-70 lead on a running jumper by freshman Kevin Conrad (Buena Park HS) with 12.0 seconds left, but Chris Camper scored on a tip-in for the Corsairs (1-0) with 1.5 seconds left for the game-winner. After Cerritos called timeout, a court-length pass to sophomore Manny Garcia (St. John Bosco HS) didn't reach the basket, as he was being triple-teamed.

A slow start to the game resulted in a 12-3 deficit with first six minutes of the game, but a balanced scoring attack slowly worked their way back until a three-pointer by sophomore guard Chris Wyms (King-Drew HS/West Los Angeles CC) gave the team their first lead, 23-20 with 6:05 left in the first half. The Cerritos lead swelled to 35-28 by intermission and it was as high as 56-42 with 8:24 left in the second half on a basket by sophomore DeAnthony Roberts (Gahr HS/Cypress College).

Santa Monica turned to Keilan Horton, who scored 23 points before fouling out, while Davd Nwaba chipped in with 12 points. For Cerritos, only Conrad scored in double figures (11 points),while the Falcons struggled from the free throw line, making 26-of-37 on the night. The Corsairs went on a 15-1 run after trailing by 14 points and tied the game with 2:33 remaining on a Horton steal and basket.

The lead traded hands the remainder of the game, with Cerritos holding a 67-64 advantage with 1:48 left on a pair of Marquise Washington (Westchester HS/Cypress College). Horton scored the next four points for a Santa Monica lead until Garcia netted a pair of free throws with 51.3 seconds remaining. Nwaba followed with a bucket with 31.7 seconds left, which set up the basket by Conrad and subsequent winning basket by Camper.

Roberts finished the night with eight points and seven rebounds, while sophomore David Hall (Lynwood HS/Yavapai, AZ CC) chipped in with seven points and seven boards in the loss.

Photo by Daryl Peterson