On the first day of the Golden West II Tournament, the Cerritos College men's water polo team earned a pair of big wins. The Falcons (13-10) opened the day by defeating Ventura College, 12-8 at the Falcon Aquatic Center and followed that with a thrilling 14-13 overtime win over West Valley College. By winning their bracket, Cerritos will play a pair of games on Saturday at Golden West College and will open at 9:50 a.m. against rival Long Beach City College. The result of that game will determine their second opponent and time.

In the win over West Valley, who's ranked #4 in the state, sophomore Randy Baldwin (Buena Park HS/Fullerton CC) scored the eventual game winner in the second overtime period. The teams traded goals after regulation until Cerritos responded with the eventual game-winner. One of the keys to the team's victory was the play of freshman goalkeeper Alfredo De La Mora (Bell Gardens HS), who made 22 saves and recorded three steals.

Cerritos maintained their balanced scoring attack, with seven different players scoring. Baldwin led the team with three goals, while five players had a pair of goals each. Sophomore Albert Kim (Cerritos HS), who also led the team with three assists, scored twice, as did sophomores Miguel Garcia (Montebello HS) and TJ Tigerina (Bell Gardens HS), along with freshman Eugene Lee (Hacienda Heights Wilson HS) and Marlon Moreno (Virgen del Rosario, Venezuela HS).

Against the Pirates in their early game of the day, the Falcons slowly pulled away, as they turned a 4-2 first quarter lead into a 7-4 halftime advantage, with Garcia scoring three of his game-high five goals at the midway point. Moreno led the defense with eight steals, while Cerritos scored three times on the man advantage by getting goals from different players. Lee picked up a pair of assists, with freshman Matthew Skinas (La Serna HS) contributing three steals. De La Mora, who was not asked to make a save in the first period, finished the game with six stops.