The Cerritos College men's basketball team had a higher shooting percentage from the field and three-point range in their South Coast Conference opening game at Los Angeles Harbor College on Friday night. However, the Falcons (6-10, 0-1) also committed 18 turnovers and were out-rebounded, 41-32, which contributed greatly to their 66-52 loss. The team will now host Los Angeles Southwest College in a conference game at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.

Their woes started in the first half, as Cerritos scored just four points in the final 10:15, which saw an 18-17 lead turn into a 34-22 deficit at intermission. They had more turnovers (10) than made baskets (8) in the first 20 minutes. It was also a 9-0 Seahawks (9-4, 1-0) offensive rebounding advantage that prevented the Falcons from getting more than one shot per possession.

Cerritos did make a run in the second half to get to within 56-41 after trailing by as many as 23 points. But a turnovers led to a 7-0 run by LA Harbor, which put the game out of reach with 6:02 left when the deficit swelled back up to 20 points.

Freshman Jay Merriweather (Temescal Canyon HS) netted 5-of-6 shots and led the team with 12 points, while sophomores Josh Bell (Long Beach Wilson HS) and Micah Winn (Crenshaw HS) each finished with 10 points. Sophomore Jeff Gonzalez (Riverside Poly HS/Riverside City College) and freshman Cristian Perez (Santa Fe HS) each pulled down a team-high six rebounds in the loss.