In one of the more improbable wins in a long time, a shorthanded Cerritos College men's basketball team came back from a late deficit to defeat rival Long Beach City College, 87-81 in overtime on Wednesday. The Falcons (16-9, 4-0) take over sole possession of first place in the South Coast Conference South Division with the win and just four regular season games remaining. The team will enjoy a bye on Friday and then travel to Los Angeles Harbor College for a 7:00 p.m. game next Wednesday.

The team will be without a trio of players who were ejected from the game with a little over seven minutes remaining in the second half. With the team trailing 50-42, a melee broke out on the court on a foul. Ejected from the game were starters Brian Nebo and Jamal Watson, along with reserve Elvis Okafor.

After the 33-minute delay, both teams traded baskets for the next six minutes. With 1:08 left in regulation, the Vikings led 66-56 and appeared to be on their way to the victory. Consecutive baskets by sophomores Jonathan Brown (Fairfax HS) and Jay Merriweather (Temescal Canyon HS), were followed by an offensive rebound and put-back by sophomore Kyle Geer (Bassick, CT HS/Cuesta College).

Long Beach City hurt their chances of putting the game away by only shooting 6-of-14 from the free throw line in the final 1:24. While the Vikings were missing shots from the charity stripe, the Falcons were hitting three-pointers to get back into the game. It was a trey by sophomore Khalid Washington (Los Alamitos HS/Central Wyoming College) and then one from freshman Tyler Payne (Mayfair HS) with :07 seconds left to get the team even at 70-70. Geer blocked a last-second shot by Chris Camper to send the game to an extra five minutes.

In that time period, it was Payne who put the Falcons over the top, scoring 13 of the team's 17 points in overtime. He gave the team a 73-72 lead with a three-pointer and added another with 1:14 left to put the team back on top, 83-81 after Breamon Richard put LBCC up, 81-80 on a trey with 1:43 remaining. Payne also netted 7-of-8 free throws in the extra stanza.

Payne finished with 19 points, while Brown accounted for 18 points and four assists off the bench. Geer added 15 points and eight rebounds, while Washington produced 13 points and nine rebounds. By the end of the game, Cerritos played with the same five players for the final five minutes of regulation and all five minutes of overtime.