Just days after winning the College of the Sequoias Tournament, the Cerritos College men's basketball team dropped a pair of games at a tournament were eliminated. The Falcons (7-7) were defeated by both Orange Coast College (78-74) and Palomar College (77-65) at the College of the Canyons Tournament. The team will now open South Coast Conference play on January 8 when they play a 5:00 p.m. game at Los Angeles Southwest College.

Cerritos vs. Orange Coast: In a game that was tied six times in the second half, the Falcons held a 63-60 lead with 6:58 after a layup from guard Austin Pope (Burbank HS). Even after missing their next three shots, and offensive rebound and dunk by sophomore forward TJ Traylor (Dominguez HS) put the team back on top, 66-65 with 4:02 left in the second half. Their last lead came on a free throw from sophomore Kevin Conrad (Buena Park HS) with 2:47 left for a 67-65 advantage. But then the Pirates Noah Prouse (28 points) hit a jumper, followed by a three-pointer from Brad Buchignani (18 points) put the team behind for the rest of the game. The team did connect on three of their final six shots, but it was Orange Coast who went 6-for-6 from the free throw line to secure the win. Traylor and sophomore Henry Igboke (Los Alamitos HS) led the Falcons with 17 points each, while Traylor also added 10 rebounds. Sophomore Jarion Henry (Kimball, TX HS/Trinity Valley, TX CC) finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and four steals in the loss, while Pope added 10 points and five rebounds.

Cerritos vs. Palomar: Second half shooting woes did in the Falcons in their loss to the Comets. After taking a 37-33 lead at intermission, the Falcons converted only 34.5% of their shots, while Palomar netted 57% of theirs to outscore Cerritos, 44-28. The team led, 27-9 through the first 13 minutes of the game, but were outscored, 24-10 the rest of the half. The Comets continued to shoot well as the game progressed, draining 12 three-pointers on the day and took their first lead of the game with 13:48 left in the game. Cerritos couldn't get any closer than an eight point deficit in the latter part of the second half, as Palomar looked to Derick Jones (24 points), Aaron Rodel (four three-pointers) and James Sampson (three three-pointers). The Falcons received 12 points from both Pope and Henry, who also added nine rebounds before fouling out. Sophomore Victor Jones (10 points, 12 rebounds) also played well, as did freshman Josh Bell (Long Beach Wilson HS), who posted five points and six rebounds off the bench.