Following the win against Mt. San Antonio, where Cerritos shot 14-25 from the free throw line, head coach Russ May said if something did not change free throws would be the downfall of the team.
Cerritos had its season shortened following a 68-63 overtime loss to East LA Saturday, Feb. 27.
Sophomore guard Jonathan Brown said, “All our guys are taking it hard. It’s hard for me knowing that I’ll never put on this jersey again. I had a fantastic two years here. The coaching staff and all of the guys I’ve been around are top class.”
He added, “This has been the best two years of my basketball life.”
Brown took heat after the Jan. 20 loss to the Huskies after many thought he took a forced jump shot at the end of regulation as oppose to passing to an open Luis Medearis.
The game was tied at 56 when Cerritos inbounded the ball only to have the ball go off of Brown’s knee.
“We put ourselves in the position to win. We all fought hard and I just want to thank everyone who gave me the opportunity to be on the court,” Brown said.
May said after the game he told Brown “one play does not make a season.”
Tonight was just not Brown’s night as he shot 3-8 from the free throw line.
“We put a lot of time into it, none of our guys went up there with the intention to miss. At the end of the day it just didn’t go in for us,” he added.
Furthermore, the team shot 25-42 from the charity stripe.
May expressed, “The things that haunt you all year come back and get you,”
Brown was not the only player to struggle on the night. Kyle Geer, Medearis and Khalid Washington went a combined 3-29 from the field.
Cerritos shot 26 percent from the field as a team.
Medearis looked very frustrated in the early going of the game and it only got worse as the game progressed.
“He’ll come back confident on his own. He’ll have a chip on his shoulder and want to prove something,” May said.
The fact that Medearis is a freshman and will have his chance to avenge this loss next season doesn’t mean much to him.
Medearis said, “You don’t get this season back so me coming back next year isn’t going to alleviate this pain.”
At times it looked as if Medearis, as well as other players, were annoyed with how the game was transpiring.
“Everybody got a little intense. Everybody was just focused on winning. We didn’t tune the [coaches] out at all, they give us the best advice,” Medearis said.
May wasn’t too worried about the emotions of his players.
“They were a little frustrated in themselves with the missed free throws or missed shots that piled up that might’ve affected them a little bit,” May said.
With a tremendous season to build on following a 20-9 regular season and 8-0 conference finish this team is in good hands heading into the offseason.
Freshman Brian Nebo led all scorers with 14 points.
Fellow freshman Tyler Payne was the vocal leader on the floor that the team needed during stretches of this heart-wrenching loss.
“It helped me grow as a man this year. These guys trusting me to lead being the younger guy out of the group. I gained a lot of trust and matured this year,” Payne said.
