The Cerritos College men's basketball team entered their South Coast Conference game at El Camino College with a two-game divisional lead with four games remaining. After their unexpected 88-72 setback against the Warriors (8-13, 4-6), the Falcons are now in a fight to secure their third title in the last four seasons, as they slipped to 14-9, 8-2. The team will travel to rival Long Beach City College for a 6:00 p.m. game on Wednesday and then play host in their final two regular season games.

The teams were evenly matched early on, as they were tied five times and exchanged the lead eight times before the Warriors pulled out to a 45-38 advantage at intermission. It was a 20-7 scoring spurt by El Camino to start the second half that gave them a sizable 65-45 lead and they would not look back.

Cerritos did get to within 81-71 with 2:53 left in the second half. But the Warriors were able to convert their free throws in the final few minutes to close out the upset win. The Falcons were led by sophomore David Hall (Lynwood HS/Yavapai, AZ CC), who scored 19 points in 21 minutes off the bench. Sophomores Anthony Holliday (Norwalk HS) added 18 points and Marquise Washington (Westchester HS/Cypress College) had eight points to go along with a team-high eight rebounds.

A quartet of El Camino starters scored in double-figures and accounted for 77 of their points on the night. They also shot 60% from the field, compared to 34.4% by Cerritos. The Falcons also hurt their cause by missing 16 free throws.

Photo by Daryl Peterson