Ctr Marcellus Jackson and SF Van Girard both had double-doubles, and the Cerritos defense held Long Beach to 23.5% shooting from the floor as the host Falcons (6-13, 2-1) romped to a 78-48 victory Friday night, dropping the Vikings (9-12, 2-1) into a tie for first place in the mediocre but evenly-matched South Coast Conference's South Division.
Two days after experiencing a heartbreaking 1-point loss to El Camino, Cerritos absolutely pummeled Long Beach, which was in position to take control of the SCC-South with a victory. The win puts Cerritos, LBCC and El Camino into a 3-way tie atop the division, which finished a cumulative 40-82 in pre-conference play but will nonetheless have at least one representative in the playoff field.
Actually, Cerritos started off quite poorly, turning the ball over on each of its first possessions, allowing Long Beach to race out to an 8-0 lead in the game's first two minutes.
But after that, Cerritos was dominant. Long Beach still held a 19-15 lead until an 11-0 run saw the Falcons take a 26-19 lead. The game was still close late in the first half with Long Beach trailing by just 4 at 28-24 until Cerritos finished the half on a 10-0 run, with 8 points coming in the final 1:25, to take a 38-24 advantage at the break.
And when the second half began, Cerritos continued to pull away. A 3-pointer by SF Sean Chennault in the opening seconds made it 41-24 and spurred an 11-4 spurt that saw Long Beach miss 7 of its first 8 shots of the half and Cerritos push the lead to 21 at 49-28 with over 14 minutes remaining.
After that, Cerritos just kept pulling away. A pair of free throws by Girard with 10:06 left made it a 25-point game at 57-32. And with just under a minute left, reserve PF Jonathan Garcia scored on a putback to push the margin to 30 at 78-48 and account for the game's final basket.
For Cerritos, Jackson led the way with 17 pts, 18 rebs and 3 blocoks. He had the double-double at halftime, at which point he had 11 pts and 10 rebs. Girard added 16 pts and 11 rebs off the bench. PG Jeremy Pope also had 16 pts, and SG Jeremiah Barnes made a run at a triple-double, finishing with 14 pts (5-of-5 from the floor in the first half), 8 rebs and 7 asts.
For Long Beach, PF Stephan Gwin had a double-double with 13 pts and 11 rebs, and SG Randolph White had 16 pts plus 7 rebs and 4 steals. But the Vikings shot 23.5% from the floor for the game (19-for-81) and were outscored by nearly a 2-to-1 margin (78-to-40) after the game's first two minutes.
The win lifts Cerritos into a 3-way tie with Long Beach and El Camino in the SCC-South with each team sporting a 2-1 division record.
Box Score
Friday, January 23, 2009 - 7:30 pm
at Cerritos College
South Coast Conference - South Division
Long Beach Vikings 48:
2-Kenneth Hurd, PG - 1/5 fg, 2 reb, 5 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 2 pts
3-Randolph White, SG - 7/20 fg, 7 reb, 1 ast, 4 stl, 3 pf, 16 pts
15-Marlin Ramos, SF - 1/8 fg, 2/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 pf, 4 pts
21-Stephan Gwin, PF - 6/18 fg, 1/5 ft, 11 reb, 1 blk, 2 pf, 13 pts
31-Lane Whitney, C - 2/9 fg, 3/4 ft, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 9 pts
1-Reggie Patterson, F - 0/6 fg, 3 reb, 1 blk, 1 pf, 0 pts
11-Steve Richard, G - 1/8 fg, 2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 2 pts
33-Andrew Gabelleri, F - 1/5 fg, 2 reb, 1 pf, 2 pts
42-Damon Leibig, G - 0/1 fg, 3 asts, 0 pts
5-Eugene Howard, G - 0/1 fg, 1 reb, 1 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 19/81 fg (.235), 6/11 ft (.545), 42 reb, 11 ast, 2 blk, 7 stl, 18 pf, 48 pts
3-pt fg (4): White 2, Whitney 2
Intentional Foul: White
Turnovers (17): Hurd 3, White 3, Whitney 3, Richard 3, Gwin 2, Gabelleri 2, Patterson
Cerritos Falcons 78:
30-Sean Chennault, SF - 1/3 fg, 0/2 ft, 2 ast, 1 stl, 3 pts
32-Jeremiah Barnes, SG - 6/7 fg, 1/2 ft, 8 reb, 7 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 14 pts
34-Jeremy Pope, PG - 5/9 fg, 5/7 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 16 pts
35-Gregory Preer, PF - 2/8 fg, 5 reb, 2 blk, 4 pf, 4 pts
42-Marcellus Jackson, C - 7/13 fg, 3/6 ft, 18 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk, 2 stl, 2 pf, 17 pts
31-Brian Barner, G - 1/4 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 3 pts
41-Van Girard, F - 6/12 fg, 4/4 ft, 11 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 1 pf, 16 pts
43-Leo Arnold, G - 3/4 ft, 2 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 3 pts
33-Michael Adams, G - 0/1 fg, 1 pf, 0 pts
44-Jonathan Garcia, F - 1/2 fg, 1 reb, 1 blk, 1 stl, 2 pts
45-Jorge Sanchez, C - 1 reb, 0 pts
team rebounds: 6
Totals: 29/59 fg (.492), 16/25 ft (.640), 56 reb, 19 ast, 7 blk, 11 stl, 14 pf, 78 pts
3-pt fg (4): Chennault, Barnes, Pope, Barner
Turnovers (24): Barnes 4, Pope 4, Preer 4, Jackson 3, Barner 2, Arnold 2, Sanchez 2, Chennault, Adams, team
Halftime Score: Cerritos 38, Long Beach 24
Updated Records: Cerritos 6-13 overall, 2-1 in SCC-S; Long Beach 9-12 overall, 2-1 in SCC-S
