Led by 28 points from the bench, the Cerritos College men's basketball team improved to 2-0 in the South Coast Conference with a 56-52 win over visiting El Camino College on Friday night. The Falcons (9-7) will now travel to Long Beach City College next Wednesday for a 5:00 p.m. contest.

Trailing early in the first half, Cerritos received a pair of three-pointers from sophomore guard Jordan Reise (Huntington Beach HS) off the bench to take a 23-18 lead with 5:10 remaining. A rebound and layup from freshman guard Austin Pope (Burbank HS) made it a seven-point lead, while the team took a 28-20 advantage into the half.

The lead swelled to 12 points (45-33) with 9:08 remaining in the game after sophomore guard Kevin Conrad (Buena Park HS) drained a three-pointer. But the Warriors (2-11, 0-2) made the game close when the Falcons wwent six minutes without a basket. Three-pointers from El Camino's Yutaro Nishi and Brett Cooper put the game at  52-49 with 3:55 remaining. A Nishi free throw with 1:02 made it a one-point game before sophomore forward Jarion Henry (Kimball, TX HS/Trinity Valley, TX CC) scored on a tip-in with 44.5 seconds left to end the scoring drought.

Pope then converted the front end of a one-and-one for a 54-49 lead, while Henry (five points, seven rebounds) added an insurance basket with 3.5 seconds left. Nishi connected on a three-pointer at the buzzer to put the game at a four-point Falcon win.

Reise led the team with 11 points, and added five rebounds and three assists, while freshman Micah Winn (Crenshaw HS) netted a three-pointer in each half and ended with 10 points off the bench. Sophomore TJ Traylor (Dominguez HS) scored nine points, pulled down seven rebounds and blocked six shots, with Conrad adding eight points and four rebounds. Also coming off the bench, freshman forward Josh Bell (Long Beach Wilson HS) was very productive with seven points and six rebounds.

Photos by Daryl Peterson