One week ago, the Cerritos College men's basketball team was leading the South Coast Conference South Division by two games with four to be played. After a loss to El Camino College last Friday and their 74-70 setback against rival Long Beach City College on Wednesday night, the Falcons are now in a tie for first place with Los Angeles Harbor College. Cerritos will host the Seahawks at 6:00 p.m. next Wednesday at The Aviary with the winner taking over sole possession of first place with one game left to be played.

In the loss to the Vikings (9-16, 4-7), it was a 58-32 LBCC lead with 12:36 left in the second half after outscoring Cerritos 9-1 to start the second half and riding that wave for the better part of the first eight minutes. But the Falcons put together an 18-2 run, which included a three-pointer by freshman Jordan Reise (Huntington Beach HS) to tie the game at 54, while sophomore David Hall (Lynwood HS/Yavapai, AZ CC) gave the team a 56-54 lead with 7:55 left after netting a pair of free throws.

But Cerritos didn't have an answer for Tyler Tuliau, who hit a three-pointer with 4:20 left to give the Vikings a 62-60 lead, which they would not relinquish the rest of the way. Ashton Edwards also sank four free throws down the stretch to help secure the win.

Reise led Cerritos (14-10, 8-3 SCC) with 21 points off the bench, as he nailed five three-pointers to ignite the late rally. Hall also chipped in with 13 points and eight rebounds, with sophomore guards Anthony Holliday (Norwalk HS) and Chris Wyms (King-Drew HS/West Los Angeles CC) each adding nine points. Tuliau led all scorers with 28 points on 12-of-15 shooting to go along with 10 boards, while Ashton Edwards finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and nine assists.

Photo by Daryl Peterson