Sophomore forward Kyle Geer continues to muscle his way into the paint to get high percentage baskets.
Geer turned in his second straight double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and helped Cerritos put away LA Southwest 92-81 on Wednesday, Jan. 27.
“My mindset was to drive and kick if they help out on me but, they were helping so I had open lanes to score,” Geer said.
He will try his hand at a third straight double-double at home Friday, Jan. 29 against El Camino.
Head coach Russ May said,“[Geer] is our most consistent warrior. He battles pretty much every day and every game.”
He helped lead the team to its season-high of 54 points in the paint.
Something that LA Southwest’s head coach Calvin Kyles Sr. knew was to come.
“The scouting report dictates that we’re not a good rebounding team, we’re not very physical so everybody is trying to get us on that end so it’s no secret to us,” Kyles said.
Aside from Geer not much went well for the Falcons in the first five minutes of the game.
In fact the team found itself trailing by seven in the early stages to a 0-15 Cougar team.
“Everyday we’re just taking it one day at a time, just trying to get a win. We’re definitely not quitting yet we’re going to play hard until the end of the season,” Kyles said.
With 14:04 to go in the first half, May who traditionally substitutes players in one-by-one or even two-by-two sent an entire new five.
“I felt the first unit wasn’t playing with enough intensity, so I just wanted to get them all out,” May said.
Sophomore guard Khalid Washington was a part of that second unit that came in and changed the game around for the Falcons.
“You jut have to stay ready. We have a group of guards that can run the floor so we just stay ready,” Washington said.
He neared a double double with 11 points and nine rebounds.
There were six players in double figures, sophomore guard Jonathan Brown was one of them.
“When coach calls my number, I’m just going to come out and do what I have to do,” he said.
Brown finished with 11 points and six assists.
Cerritos managed to cling to an eight-point lead heading into halftime however that is when freshman guard Brian Nebo found his footing.
Nebo has been saying that despite the three-percentage of his and the team’s as a whole, he nor the team will stop shooting threes.
However, he only attempted one three-pointer during the course of the game.
May admits that he never tells a player to stop shooting however, he does see it as maturity for Nebo.
“I just think he’s evolving and playing the game at a higher level and trying to make the right play,” May said.
Nebo seems to agree with his coach.
“I [saw] open lanes when I had the ball. I thought about the shot, you know me,” Nebo said with a smile.
“It’s just making the right basketball play,” he added.
He scored a team-high 15 points.
Despite the highest-scoring output of the season by Cerritos, it did allow 82 points by a winless team and that is not sitting well with Nebo.
“That’s very unacceptable. On the defensive end today was terrible but we’ll pick it up next game and be ready for El Camino,” he said.
