Despite a first-half lead, the Cerritos College men’s basketball team followed up with a disappointing second half and lost to El Camino College  Compton Center 82-73 on Friday, putting its record at 8-12.

Sophomore guard Nick Sanchez led the team with 22 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The Falcons capitalized on their fast breaks, which included a dunk by freshman guard Anthony Scott.

Cerritos continued to execute the fast breaks  throughout the half and   went into halftime with a 40-26 lead.  

Sanchez said, “We were sticking to the game plan, executed good passing and we got good shots.”

Down by 27 points at the start of the second half, the Tartars started off with the ball and began their comeback.

El Camino started to find momentum and took advantage of Cerritos’  mistakes.

With 15:29 remaining in the game, El Camino caught up, bringing the score to 48-45.

“We got happy and started turning over the ball and doing things we weren’t supposed to be doing,” freshmen J.P. Olukemi said of the comeback effort by El Camino.

Olukemi scored eight points off the bench.  

The Falcons continued to make mistakes and El Camino was able to put the odds on its side.

Later in the game, the Tartars had the momentum in their favor as they burned the clock.

By the end of the game, Cerritos attempted another comeback, but the lead was too wide, and time ran out.

The game ended with El Camino on top, 82-73.

El Camino scored 55 points in the second half, as opposed to the 27 points in the first half of the game.

Head coach Russ May said, “We did little things we shouldn’t be doing, and that’s why they came back at us. We did not handle success very well.”

He added, “We’re going to learn how to play two halves.”

 Sanchez said the team has to turn it around for its next game.

“We’ve just got to work hard,   go back to the gym, and pay attention as students of the game,” he said,

“We have to move on from here, we can’t get this game back.”