The Cerritos College Falcons men’s basketball team lost a close game to the Mt. San Antonio Mounties 70-67 on Jan. 10, with the deciding factor being attempted free throws – a heated argument between assistant coaches concluded the game.
The Falcons were shooting well from the field this game with a 45% field goal percentage and shooting 47% from three but the fouls held them back.
The Falcons allowed Mt. SAC to have 35 attempted free throws while only having 10 free throw attempts themselves.
Head coach for Cerritos, Russ May, showed frustration throughout the game about these calls – as well as fouls that he believed weren’t getting called, which was highlighted when Mt. SAC would perform off-ball screens.
“I’ve never been one to blame officials, and I won’t do that, but the disparity was obvious,” May said.
May continued, “The number of fouls called in the first half and second half – it’s unfortunate. You know, we want the kids to be able to compete and have it officiated consistently and unfortunately that wasn’t done tonight.”
Falcons guard Darron Henry also commented on the fouls, “At the end of the day, refs are going to make tough calls there’s no such thing as a perfect ref.”
Another Falcons guard, Marcel Hayes, followed up with how the Falcons can work around foul calls, “It’s a lesson and we got to adjust and realize the refs are calling a lot so make adjustments early.”
May also shared the other missed opportunities the team had on top of the calls they got, “At the end of the day, you got to make free throws and you got to get a rebound and they made those plays down the stretch and we didn’t, which was the difference in the game.”
The Falcons also faced a few technical fouls in the game as well which added to the free throw attempts.
“In the first half, I think we lost our composure and dug ourselves into a hole, but I know my team will respond and we’ll be back next week,” May stated.
After the game, it seemed that built-up frustration was taken out as Cerritos Assistant Coach, Tito Ortiz, shared some harsh words to Mt. San Antonio’s Assistant Coach, Phillip Brown about one of his players.
The heated argument resulted in the coaches having to be held back from each other by other coaches and players as they were led into their respective locker rooms.
Some of Mt. SAC players taunted after the situation as they felt they got under the skin of Cerritos.
The Falcons look to learn from this game as they face Rio Hondo at home on Jan. 15, before they go on the stretch of playing teams in their conference.
“As a group, I think we did phenomenal being attentive to defensive plays and offensive plays,” Henry said, “We need to build where we left off on as a group…just being attentive to the positives and our shading our weaknesses.”
“We need to go into the conference confident by being ready to play anyone who steps in front of us,” Henry finished.