The Cerritos College Falcons men’s basketball team took care of business at home against Los Angeles Southwest Cougars to give them their seventh straight win on Feb. 5.
The Cougars started this game with high energy on both sides of the ball by taking an early 12-5 lead.
Cerritos had many opportunities to score in the paint in the first couple of minutes but many missed second-chance points opportunities.
“They have some talented players and you gotta expect them to come out and play well, and they did, got a nice lead and we battled back by getting the ball inside.
Once we got a feel for the game, we started to rebound a little bit better, I thought we took control”, said Cerritos head coach Russ May.
The Falcons were able to get back into this game quickly as they forced turnovers and stayed aggressive on offense.
Cerritos ended the half going on a 32-18 run taking a 30-37 lead heading into the 2nd period.
The team was led by consistent play from the Falcons starting five with four players scoring five or more points.
For the Cougars despite coming into this game as the underdogs, they were able to keep the game close in the first half.
The same can’t be said about the second half of the game, where the Falcons were able to take full control, earning the biggest lead of the game of 23 three points.
What helped the Falcons take such a commanding lead was a dominant second-half performance from starting center, Spencer Ezewiro.
Ezewiro was able to score 18 points, along with five rebounds and a block.
The Cougars got great scoring performances from guards, Hansen Clarke and Kenneth Tyree who put up a combined 53 of the team’s 88 total points, but it wasn’t enough as the team’s lack of bench depth puts them at a disadvantage.
The game ended with the Cougars showing a little fight with two minutes to go as they shrunk the lead down to seven but with no time left, the Falcons had the game in the bag.
The Falcons have been rolling, as they have won seven straight and nine of the last 10 games to keep a lead in the South Coast Conference.
“This team is very unselfish, we all bond as one, I think everybody is a unit and everybody plays as a unit, we are approaching these games one at a time, trying to be the best version of ourselves, get the job done and after it’s done move on to the next,” said Falcons guard Darron Henry.
Cerritos next game will be a good one on the road against Conference rival, The Compton Tatars, on Feb. 7 at 7 p.m.
