In what has turned out to be their strongest weapon, the Cerritos College men's basketball team received another balanced effort in a win. The Falcons (15-9, 3-0) posted a 75-62 South Coast Conference South Division win over visiting El Camino College on Friday night. The victory kept the team in a first place tie with rival Long Beach City, as the two face off next Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in Long Beach.

After a slow first 10 minutes of the game, Cerritos started finding their range from the outside. Both Brian Nebo (St. John Bosco HS) and Tyler Payne (La Mirada HS) drained treys at the start of the game, but it was a three-pointer by Khalid Washington (Los Alamitos HS/Central Wyoming College) that gave the team a 17-10 lead with 8:17 left in the first half. Freshman Elvis Okafor (International School of Lagos, Nigera) followed with a bucket for a nine-point lead on their next possession.

Prior to the end of the first half, Nebo dropped another three-pointer and Payne hit a jumper, as the Falcons took a 30-18 lead into halftime.

In the second half, Cerritos expanded their lead to 17 points (36-19) after another Nebo three-pointer and it got as high as a 21-point advantage (40-19) on a Washington basket with 16:16 left.

The Warriors started to make a comeback after a series of Falcon turnovers and closed their deficit to eight points (53-45) with 8:10 left in the second half. But Luis Medearis (View Park HS) netted three free throws and a basket, while Payne scored to get the advantage back to 13 points in the final six minutes.

At the end of the game, Medearis had a team-high 13 points and added six rebounds and three assists, with Payne finishing with 12 points and five assists. Nebo posted 11 points  and a team-high eight rebounds, while Washington added nine points. The duo of sophomores Jonathan Brown (Fairfax HS) and Jamal Watson (Lakewood HS) both added eight points, while Isiah Armstead led the Warriors with 25 points.

Photos by Daryl Peterson