For the second straight games, the Cerritos College men’s basketball team found themselves in a tightly contested South Coast Conference South Division game on Wednesday night. However, last Friday, the Falcons went over 9:00 without scoring and suffered a 20-point loss to El Camino College. Against Long Beach City, Cerritos was victimized by a 21-4 run in the first half and a 16-3 run in the second half, and dropped a 69-50 decision. The setback put the team’s record under .500 (11-12), while they are 0-2 in divisional play, while the Vikings improved to 14-10 overall and 1-0 in the division. It was also the seventh loss in the last eight game for Cerritos against Long Beach City. Cerritos will now play their first home game since January 4 when they play host to Los Angeles Harbor College next Wednesday.

    After opening up an 8-2 lead to start the game, the Falcons found themselves down 23-12, thanks in part to the combination of Matt Richard and 7-foot center Shawntell Norman. Richard slashed his way to nine first half points, while Norman had 10 of his game-high 19 points and six offensive rebounds in the first stanza. As for the Falcons, they shot just 28.6% from the field and turned the ball over 10 times and went onto the locker room down, 34-22.

    Cerritos stormed out in the second half and were able get to within 36-31 after a three-point play by sophomore guard Aaron King (Mayfair HS) with 17:41 remaining. The Falcons would continue to stay close, until the reemergence of Norman, who scored three straight baskets before Richard and Vance Lawrence came to life to put the game out of reach.

    King led the team with 16 points and was the only Falcon to score in double-figures. The team’s leading scorer, sophomore Aaron Thompson (Washington Prep HS), was limited to just 2-of-8 shooting and finished with five points. He led the team with eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Travele Jones (Inglewood HS), the team’s second leading scorer, shot just 3-of-13 from the field and added eight points and five boards, with freshman guard Van Girard (Gahr HS) coming off the bench to contribute eight points and four caroms.