In what many people are calling the game of the year, Cerritos scored a comeback win over rival Long Beach City 87-81.
The win seemed improbable as the Falcons trailed by 10 points with 1:08 remaining in regulation until freshman guard Tyler Payne scored 16 of the team’s final 20 points.
“I told my guys during the delay to stay positive and believe in God,” Payne said.
What ultimately kept Cerritos in the game was the poor free throw shooting of Long Beach City down the stretch. In the final 1:24 of the second half the Vikings missed eight of 14 free throws.
Trailing by five with under 30 seconds to go sophomore forward Kyle Geer nailed a three pointer with 21 seconds left.
Geer also relished at the opportunity to guard Vikings’ leading scorer Chris Camper.
“We didn’t want him to do whatever he wanted so pressuring him full court helped us defensively,” Geer said.
Before the game freshman guard Brian Nebo said that nobody was concerned with the task of playing Camper despite his talent level.
May didn’t think too much of Nebo’s comments prior to tip-off.
“It’s just a player downplaying the enormous job of handling Camper,” May said.
After the game Nebo stood by his comments.
“He earned his points at the [free-throw] line he didn’t do too much explosive, but he played a good game,” he said.
Camper finished with 33 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.
Following a missed free throw for the Vikings sophomore guard Jonathan Brown passed the ball to Geer standing on the left wing who quickly shoveled the ball to an open Payne in the corner for the game tying three pointer.
“When Tyler tied the score I felt we had all the momentum,” May said.
The emotions could not be higher in that moment as Cerritos was without three players due to an altercation that elapsed 33 minutes with 7:07 remaining in the game.
According officials, players from the Cerritos left the bench and charged the melee however, did not believe that the Long Beach players did the same.
Fans from the stands found their way onto the floor and almost came to blows with multiple Falcon players.
May chose to downplay the situation, “The officials are professionals and made judgment calls, I sensed no bias.”
Following the contest both teams had to be escorted to their respective buses via police officers.
Geer felt as though a lot of the calls Long Beach was getting was because they were the home team.
“A little bit but we didn’t let that get to us. We expect a little home officiating wherever we go and that goes for us too,” he said.
Ultimately, once the disruption was settled down Nebo, Jamal Watson and Elvis Okafor were all ejected from the game but no one from Long Beach City was.
“It was one-sided,” Nebo said.
All three of the players will serve a one-game suspension Wednesday, Feb. 10, per CCCAA rules. Although, Nebo is not too worried about the team being without three vital members.
“They are going to get the job done I have faith in all my teammates,” Nebo said.
In the mind of Payne all of these things served a purpose and he was thinking about them all as the game drew to a close.
“I told [Nebo] and [Watson} that I had their backs and I know that all my brothers trust me,” he said.
Payne finished with a team-high 19 points.
In the midst of all of the bad blood and quarrel both coaches agreed to not shake hands after the game in order to prevent any more activity.
Yet, following the game Camper sorted through the crowd and found various members of the Falcon team and was seen embracing them after the heartbreaking loss.
One of the players was Payne himself.
“He came to me to show respect and said ‘That was a hell of a performance we [Cerritos] put together and great game.’ I told him ‘Great game himself and we will see him at our house,” Payne said.
The teams will meet once more Feb. 19 during the regular season finale.
Athletic Director Dan Clauss has said that there will be a rise in security in order to ensure safety.
