The Cerritos men’s basketball team squeaked into the playoffs by splitting its final two games of the regular season on Feb. 14 and 16.

The first game saw the Falcons lose to Long Beach 67-66, while the second game brought a convincing win over Harbor 97-63.

It looked like Cerritos would have to win both games, as it entered the final week of play on a two game losing streak.

However, when the week was over, the basketball gods had smiled down on the Falcons and let them into the post-season despite a final regular season record of 14-16.

Cerritos vs. Long Beach

In the first half, James Perkins (eight points) made two consecutive field goals, including one in which he went coast to coast, which gave Cerritos a three point lead.

Tony Booker (nine points) also came up big in the first half.

The Falcons went into halftime losing, 33-37.

In the second half, Miguel Bennett, who led the team with 13 points, came up with big baskets every time it looked like Long Beach was gaining momentum.

There were numerous lead changes, but Cerritos seemed to have the momentum toward the end of the game.

With about a minute to play, the Falcons led 66-64.

However, during the last minute of play, the Vikings were able to reel off three straight points to steal the win.

After the game, Cerritos coach Gary Cain said, “The team played tough. They really fought.”

Guard Graylyn Reed said, “We played as hard as we could. It’s hard to take this loss. Cerritos vs. Harbor

According to freshman Tim Nichols, Cain told the team before the game that if it could beat Harbor, it could still have a chance of making the playoffs.

The Falcons absolutely dismantled Harbor.

After the first ten minutes of play Cerritos was dominating the Seahawks, 33-5.

With 6:17 to play in the half, they led 44-8.

By the end of the half, Harbor managed to go on a 15-8 run, and was down 52-23 at halftime.

In the second half, Cerritos continued its dominating play, and led by an average of 30 points the rest of the way.

The play of the Falcons was so decisive, that many of the back ups were able to log precious playing time.