In their constant battle to play their best basketball as the post-season approaches, the Cerritos College men's basketball team posted a 78-61 win over rival Long Beach City on Wednesday night. The Falcons (20-6), who won their sixth straight South Coast Conference South Division game, will close out their regular season on Friday at 5:00 p.m. when they travel to El Camino College.

Although they will finish the season in second place in the division, Cerritos is looking to score a first round home game in the upcoming Southern California Regional Playoffs. Of the 20 teams that are selected for the post-season, the bottom eight seeded teams will compete in a play-in game on February 22, while the top 12 teams will wait to play their first game either next Friday or Saturday.

In the win over the Vikings (7-18, 3-6), the Falcons were able to score points in bunches and in many different ways. If it wasn't the outside shooting of sophomores Tyler Payne (La Mirada HS) and Cristian Perez (Santa Fe HS), sophomores Brian Nebo (St. John Bosco HS) and Anthony Lefeau (Orange Lutheran HS), along with freshman Dezmon Murphy (La Mirada HS) and Jonathan Guzman (Paramount HS) were scoring on the inside.

Cerritos saw their lead swell to as much as 58-47 after a Devan Burrell (Centennial, NV HS/Cypress College) jump shot in the second half, only to have LBCC carve their way back to within 58-54 after a Richard Beamon three-pointer. However, the Falcons regained their momentum and worked their fast break and then get that lead back to 70-58 after a Perez three-pointer with 4:32 remaining.

Payne and Perez each scored 19 points, with six three-pointers and combined for 12 rebounds and seven assists, while Nebo (eight points, eight rebounds) and Lefeau (seven points) helped lead the team's balanced attack. Off the bench, Murphy and Guzman 11 points and 11 rebounds between them, with freshman Riley Hamilton (Rancho Verde HS) finishing with six points and four rebounds.

Photos by Daryl Peterson