Following the win Friday, Jan. 29 against El Camino, head coach Russ May wasted no time in preparing his team for the first place clash with rival Long Beach City.
During the meeting May mentioned Vikings’ leading scorer Chris Camper, who averages 23.5 points per game.
“I told the team that [Chris] Camper is capable of putting a team on his back. He is the most dynamic player in the league,” May said.
Freshman guard Brian Nebo has been open to all defensive challenges this season. Including telling May during the East LA game that he wanted to guard 6’9” Richard Bivens and held him to only 14 points.
As if this game needed any more storylines, Nebo did not mince words in regards to Camper.
“I’m not worried about Chris Camper, he’s a solid player I’m not going to take that away from him but at the end of the day he’s facing me that night and it’s going to be a battle I’m ready for,” Nebo said.
“Nobody has any concerns about Chris Camper. He’s just like all the other players we faced this year,” he added.
May also told his team that Camper could be a potential triple-double threat because he averages 8.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
Camper has a great supporting cast as well because five other players average 9.2 points or more.
“We just need to play our defense and play it with intensity,” May said.
Freshman guard Tyler Payne just like Nebo has welcomed all defensive confrontations with open arms.
“It’s simple we all have to be on the same page defensively and stay within our principles. We are such a long team and when we pressure the ball it takes [teams] out [of] their game,” Payne said.
Long Beach City is only 12-10 on the year but is 3-0 in conference play; however, one of its losses came to Mt. San Antonio.
Cerritos defeated Mt. San Antonio by 11 points in early January.
“We’ve [always] had confidence and I fee like we are going to be [okay] if we come out strong like we did against Mt. San Antonio. [LBCC] is going to come out ready for us and we are going to do the same,” Nebo said.
He added, “It’ll be a great game to attend, it’ll be fun!”
Confidence is self-given generally as May understands when Cerritos and Long Beach City link up records no longer matter, both teams want to beat the other.
May said, “This is an opportunity to take sole possession of first place. Records don’t matter when we play Long Beach City.”
