Ever since their dramatic come-from-behind overtime win at Long Beach City College two and a half weeks ago, the Cerritos College men's basketball team has been playing as if they're already in the playoffs. On Friday, the Falcons (20-9, 8-0) clinched the outright championship of the South Coast Conference South Division with a convincing 85-61 win over the Vikings. Cerritos, who entered the week ranked #7 in Southern California, will find out on Monday where they are seeded for the Southern California Regional Playoffs.

Teams seeded 15-18 will play on Wednesday, while the 2nd Round will get underway next Friday and Saturday with the top eight seeded teams hosting.

From the opening tip in their game against the Vikings (14-12, 5-2), Cerritos came out firing on all cylinders. Freshman Brian Nebo (St. John Bosco HS) dropped a three-pointer to give the team an early 6-0 lead, while sophomore center Marquise Scott (Artesia HS) added consecutive buckets in the paint for a 12-2 lead. The momentum didn't stop for 40 minutes, as the Falcons continued to run the floor with speed and intensity, while LBCC was unable to keep up after several minutes of frenetic basketball.

Sophomore Khalid Washington (Los Alamitos HS/Central Wyoming College) provided a great first half spark off the bench, as he hit a pair of three pointers, with the second one giving the team a commanding 39-19 lead. He finished with 10 of his team-high 16 points in the first 20 minutes.

Any time the Vikings looked to key on one player, the Falcons were able to turn to anyone else on the floor, and they all came through. When Nebo wasn't running the floor to drive around the defense for easy buckets, sophomore Jamal Watson (Lakewood HS) was on the receiving end of a pair of alley-oop passes that ended in thunderous dunks.

Guards Luis Medearis (View Park HS) and Tyler Payne (La Mirada HS) combined both outside shooting, as well as spot-up jumpers to combine for 23 points on 11-of-16 shooting, with Nebo concluding with 13 points and five rebounds. Watson (11 points, four rebounds) and sophomore Kyle Geer (Bassick, CT HS/Cuesta College), who had nine points, also slashed their way around LBCC.

The lead reached a game-high 32 points (61-29) on a Watson dunk, and when sophomore Jay Merriweather (Temescal Canyon HS) came off the bench, he quickly drained a short jumper and then a three-pointer to keep the scoring frenzy going.

Photos by Daryl Peterson