Oversized at nearly every position on the floor, the Cerritos College men's basketball used clutch shooting and a tenacious defense to aid them in their 70-67 Southern California Regional Playoff win against visiting MiraCosta College on Wednesday. The Falcons (20-9), seeded #16 for the playoffs, converted a pair of clutch free throws and then came down with a crucial rebound in the final seconds to defeat the #17-seeded Spartans (19-10).

The win was also the 13th in a row for the Falcons, who will now travel on Saturday to take on #1-seeded Fullerton College (24-4) with a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. It will be the first meeting between the two teams since the 2019-20 season, with the Falcons looking for their first win over the Hornets since a season-opening 77-57 win during the 2011-12 season. It was also the sixth time in head coach Russ May's tenure that he led a Falcon team to a 20-win season.

In the win over MiraCosta, the Falcons led by as many as eight points (62-54) with 6:42 remaining in the second half. However, the Spartans went on a 7-1 scoring spurt to pull to within 63-61 with 4:54 on the clock. After freshman Darron Henry (Long Beach Poly HS) knocked down a pair of free throws, the Falcons were up, 67-62 with 3:44 left on the clock. 

After sophomore Miles Ceballos (Crossroads HS/Ventura College) missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Spartans Dylan Cabbs hit a jumper to tie the game at 67-67 with 2:13 on the clock. However, the Falcon defense would keep MiraCosta off the scoreboard the remainder of the game, as they missed their final three shots and turned the ball over twice.

The Falcons didn't do much to help their cause, as they missed three free throws and two shots before Ceballos made good on the second of two from the charity strike to make it a 68-67 game with 17.6 second left. MiraCosta had several chances to take the lead, but leading scorer Kobe Smith (30 points) missed a layup, while 6-11 center Kai Burdick missed his tip-in attempt. Sophomore Taeo Thomas (Verbum Dei HS) came away with the rebound and after he was fouled, converted both free throws with 3.6 seconds left. The Spartans got off a half-court shot at the buzzer, but it was off-line.

Ceballos led the team with 17 points to go along with six rebounds and four assists, while Henry added 15 points, two rebounds and two assists in a winning cause. Off the bench, sophomore Cameron McCoy (Taft HS) chipped in with 11 points, five rebounds and three steals, with Thomas checking in with nine points and six caroms.

Photos by Daryl Peterson