In a game where the Cerritos College men's basketball team opened a n 18-point second half lead, they were able to hold on for a 74-70 win over visiting East Los Angeles College on Wednesday. The Falcons, who improved to 10-2 on the year, will now compete in the Clete Adleman Classic over the weekend and open with a 4:00 p.m. game against the host Spartans on Sunday.

In the win over the Huskies (5-5), Cerritos opened a 54-36 lead with 13:13 left after sophomore Dorian Tate (Santa Fe HS/Rio Hondo College) converted a pair of free throws. However, in the last five minutes, East LA made a run, as the Falcons went cold with their shooting and turned the ball over several times. It was a 67-62 game with 2:42 left after the Huskies Adrionne Marcus made one of his two free throws.

Kamaury Washington (Long Beach Millikan HS/Santa Ana College) netted 3-of-4 free throws down to stretch to hold off the Huskies, who received a three-pointer from Quinlan Daly with 56 seconds left to make it a 70-67 game. On their next possession, Washington was fouled again, and he calmly made both of his attempts for a 72-67 lead and then added two more for good measure, as he drained 15-of-16 on the night.

It was a tight back and forth game throughout the first half until Cerritos went on a 15-8 run to close out the first half, which included a pair of three-pointers from freshman David Mack (St. Pius X/St. Matthias Academy HS/Northern Illinois University).

The second half opened with the Falcons outscoring the Huskies, 13-6, which included five points from Tate and four from Washington. The tight defense displayed by East Los Angeles in the first half started to break down, as Cerritos was able to spread the floor and run a more up-tempo game. Cerritos also knocked down 29-of-36 free throws, with many of them coming down the stretch.

Washington led all scorers with 21 points and also hauled down seven rebounds, with Tate accounting form 15 points, four rebounds and three assists. As for Mack, he accounted for 12 points, five assists and three steals, with sophomore Isaac Sowell (Dominguez HS/Cal Poly Humboldt) and freshman Elijah Gelin (Winward HS) both posting seven points, with Sowell also pulling down six rebounds.

Photos by Daryl Peterson