Attempting to ease the tension of growing pains, the Cerritos College men's basketball team defeat Pasadena City College last Wednesday, 55-47.
But two days later, the growing pains kicked in once again for the Falcons as it lost to division rival Long Beach City College for the second time this season, this time by a score of 89-85.
In the first game between the two teams on Jan. 12, the Vikings won by 20.
The loss puts the Falcons' record at 9-17. The team will play its second to last home game of the season against L.A. Harbor this Friday.
About the win against Pasadena, Cerritos forward Keith Canzater said,"[We improved on] team communication. We grew up a lot tonight."
Against the Lancers, Canzater contributed seven points as a reserve. Guard Demetrius Turner led Cerritos with 11 points. Forward Travele Jones and guard Andre Zeumault scored 10 points each.
In last Friday's loss, the ball was shared among Cerritos as five Falcons scored in double figures.
Cerritos was led by the well-rounded play of Jones, who had 17 points along with five rebounds, four blocks and three assists.
The game against Pasadena started with Cerritos in the lead, but Pasadena never left the team with enough room to slack off.
The Falcons concentrated on passing the ball quite a bit. The entire team was helping the whole way through.
In the middle of the second half, the Lancers caught up and passed the Falcons by a couple points.
It didn't take the Falcons long to inch their way back to the lead, winning by only a point or two.
By halftime, neither team was easing up on the other one with the score with a 21-18 Lancers lead.
With about seven minutes left on the clock, the Falcons had many opportunities for three-point shots but didn't go for them. They instead tried to move in for the closer shots.
After a timeout called by Coach Gary Cain, Cerritos bounced back to catch up and excel Pasadena with several three-pointers.
Cain said, "[A three-pointer] is a much cleaner shot."
When the team passed the ball away from the basket and behind the three-point line, the Falcons were open enough to make nice shots.
By the last minute of the game, several timeouts were called by the coaches.
"[I was trying to] run the clock down (and) make some fouls," Cain said. "It was us versus the clock at that point."
Cain said that the team is definitely getting better, but it is still growing and there is still room for improvement.
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