With time running out in overtime, sophomore guard Jalen Washington (Bishop Montgomery HS) hit a jumper from the right side to give the Cerritos College men's basketball team a 77-75 win over Ventura College on Friday. The Falcons (20-9), seeded #8, will now have to wait until Saturday to find out of they are going on the road to face #1-seeded Santiago Canyon College, or host #16-seeded West Los Angeles College in the event of an upset.

Mired in a 17-0 slump, the Falcons trailed the #9-seeded Pirates (21-8), 54-43 with 9:07 left in regulation. During that stretch, Cerritos saw a 43-37 lead with 14:27 left on the clock turn into a 13-point defecit after they went 0-for-4 from the field with three turnovers. Ventura took advantage by going 7-for-7 from the field, with three of the baskets coming from three-point range.

But Cerritos slowly started to turn things around, while Ventura had trouble making baskets. By the time there was 1:44 remaining on the clock, Cerritos had tied the game at 64-64 after freshman Dorian Harris (Cerritos HS) drained a pair of three pointers after missing one on his last shot. It was a 66-64 Falcon lead when freshman guard Joshua Belvin (St. Anthony HS) converted a pair of free throws. But Dayshone Henry drove the baseline for the Pirates and slammed the ball home for another tie with 50.8 on the clock in regulation.

Looking to drive to the hoop like he had been the entire game, Belvin was called for a charge with 31 seconds remaining, which gave Ventura another chance to take the lead. Keeping the ball away from Henry (31 points), the Falcon defense foced Dayveon Bates to put up a jumper with :03 seconds, which he missed. A long shot by Cerritos was off the mark and the game was going to overtime.

Cerritos came out and took a 74-68 lead, thanks to freshman guard Joshua Harrison (Onate, NM HS), who hit a pair of one-handed driving jumpers. Once again, the Pirates fought back and tied the game, with Henry accounting for four of those points.

Taking over possession of the ball with 13.1 seconds left in overtime, Washington dribbled toward the Cerritos bench looking to see of they wanted to call timeout. When that idea was nixed, he moved to the right side, squared up and calmy drained the jumper at the buzzer and was then swarmed by his teammates.

Belvin, who sliced through the Pirates defense, finished with a team-high 17 points, while Washington finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Harrison scored six of his 10 points after halftime, while freshman Jaishon Forte (Rancho Verde HS) may have been limited to nine points, but his consecutive three-pointers in the second half were crucial in Ventura loosening up their defense.

Harris played superb defense to go along with his important three-pointers and posted 11 points, with four rebounds and three blocked shots. Freshman guard Cerroy Chenault (Warren HS) ran the Cerritos offense and finished with six points on the night.

Photos by Daryl Peterson