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After reaching the
championship game of the Irvine Valley Tournament,
the Cerritos College men's basketball team suffered
a 57-54 loss at the hands of Long Beach City College
in the finals on Saturday afternoon. The loss drops
the Falcons to 2-2 on the year, as the team will now
host Cypress College at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. The
team opened the tournament with wins over College of
the Canyons (64-61) and Cuyamaca College (57-51) to
reach the finals.
In that game, the
Vikings outscored Cerritos, 36-30 in the second half
to come back for the win. With the game tied at 54
with 4.7 seconds left, LBCC's Randolph White sank
two free throws for a 56-54 lead. with the Falcons
looking to tie the game, Kenneth Hurd stole a
Cerritos pass to wrap up the win for the Vikings.
Tournament most valuable player Lane Whitney, who
had 18 points and five rebounds for LBCC, made a key
three-pointer with 44 seconds left to give Long
Beach City a 54-51 lead.
Cerritos, which led most of the game, got a big effort from
freshman Marcellus
Jackson ( Independence HS), who
had 12 points and 15 rebounds, including nine on the
offensive end. Sophomore
Gregory
Preer ( St. Vincent St. Mary (OH)
HS/Ashland (OH) University) added 11 points and
six rebounds, while freshman
Lee Arnold
( Santa Monica HS) had seven points and five
assists and sophomore Van Girard ( Gahr
HS) chipped in six points and 10 rebounds.
Cerritos finished with 23 offensive rebounds in the
game, but shot just 37.1 percent from the field
overall.
Jackson, who had 12 points and nine boards in the win over
Cuyamaca, was named to the all-tournament team, as
was freshman guard
Brian
Barner ( Palisades HS), who
drained four three pointers and added 14 points,
four steals and three assists in the win. Girard
contributed 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds,
while freshman
Jonathan
Garcia ( St. John Bosco HS)
came off the bench to contribute seven points.
It was the outside shooting of Barner that led the Falcons in
their win over Canyons, netting 4-of-8
three-pointers and finished with 14 points, along
with four assists. Trailing by two at halftime
(25-23), the offense came to life in the second
half, and the team received 15 points and six
rebounds from Jackson, while Girard (13 points, nine
rebounds) and Preer (nine points, eight rebounds,
three assists) also played well.
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