As the regular season starts to come to a conclusion, the Cerritos College men's basketball team will get one last chance to face the two teams that defeated them in the first round of South Coast Conference South Division action. The Falcons (17-7, 4-2), who defeated Compton College, 77-62 on Friday, will travel to Los Angeles Southwest College for a 5:00 p.m. game next Wednesday. They are looking to avenge their 64-60 loss to the Cougars in their first meeting.

Against the Tartars, Cerritos scored the first seven points to get the game started. Although they never surrendered the lead, the Falcons were forced to hold off Compton, who stayed close most of the way. Leading 25-22 with 3:58 remaining in the first quarter, sophomore Gorden Boykins (St. Anthony HS) converted a pair of free throws, followed by a three-point play from sophomore Jalen Shores (Lakewood HS), which made it a 30-22 game. Freshman Cameron McCoy (Taft HS) pushed the lead to double digits when he scored on a layup after a Boykins steal. The Falcons took a 34-25 lead into intermission.

Freshman Gary Williams (Dominguez HS) opened the second half by converting a three-point play, and after Shores knocked down a jumper, the lead was back to 10 points (41-31). Williams drained a three-pointer with 8:43 remaining to put the Falcons in front, 55-42. Compton made on last run until freshman Everett May (Los Alamitos HS) and Shores hit three-pointers on consecutive plays to put the game out of reach at 65-50 with 3:57 left in the game.

Shores led the team with 16 points, while Williams finished with 15 points and a team-high six rebounds. Sophomore Dennis Johnson (Compton HS) provided 10 points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals off the bench, with McCoy finishing with eight points and three rebounds. Boykins dished out a team-high six assists while adding seven points, four rebounds and three steals.

Photos by Daryl Peterson