Prior to starting their South Coast Conference South Division schedule, the Cerritos College men's basketball team had played in only one game decided by three points or less this season. The Falcons, who won that game, have now dropped three divisional games by two points or less. The most recent was an 83-81 home setback against Los Angeles Harbor College (7-13, 1-2), who fought back from an 11-point second half deficit to come away with the win. Cerritos (14-6, 0-3) will now travel to face rival Long Beach City College at 5:00 p.m. on Friday.

After freshman Dezmon Murphy (La Mirada HS) scored on a short jumper with 14:25 left in the second half, the Falcons held a 55-44 lead. But the Seahawks went on a 20-4 run over the next 7:17, as Cerritos went 3-for-10 from the field. They were able to draw themselves into a 73-73 tie with 2:06 remaining after a Tyler Payne (La Mirada HS) jump shot.

Cerritos would not be able to take a lead the remainder of the game, as LA Harbor went 6-for-6 from the free throw line the remainder of the game. The Falcons missed six of their 14 second half free throws. Their final attempt at extending the game was a three-pointer from sophomore Salvador Carlos (Downey HS/Biola University) with seven seconds left to get to within 81-79.

Sophomore forward Cristian Perez (Santa Fe HS) led the team with 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting, along with a team-high 10 rebounds. As for Murphy, he finished with 19 points and six rebounds, with sophomore Brian Nebo (St. John Bosco HS) posting 13 points and five rebounds off the bench. LA Harbor was led by Joel Anderson (25 points) and Donal Hughes (23 points).

Photos by Daryl Peterson