In the first game of the Irvine Valley Classic, the Cerritos College men's basketball team received 31 points off the bench to help lead them to a 69-56 win over College of the Canyons. The Falcons (1-1) will play in the championships at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday.

The teams traded the lead early on until Cerritos opened a 28-21, thanks in part to a pair of three-pointers from freshman Blake Brewer (Orange Lutheran HS), a three-point play from sophomore Miles Ceballos (Crossroads HS/Ventura College) and a bucket by sophomore Taeo Thomas (Verbum Dei HS). They were able to make it an eight-point lead at 36-28 after a pair of Marcel Hayes (Long Beach Poly HS) jumpers.

Coming out in the second half, the Cougars would be able to pull within 41-40, but the Falcons responded with six straight points, with sophomore Cameron McCoy (Taft HS) scoring four of them. It was finally a double-digit lead for Cerritos (53-42) with 9:14 remaining after sophomore Eric Clark (Cerritos HS) hit a jump shot. Canyons would only get as close as seven points the remainder of the game.

Brewer led the team with 17 points and added six rebounds, while Thomas accounted for 13 points, five rebounds and three steals. The bench was supported by Ceballos (nine points, seven rebounds, four assists) and McCoy (eight points, six rebounds), with Hayes and Clark each finishing with six points.