The Cerritos men and women’s basketball team exacted revenge on Los Angeles Harbor as both teams came away with victories.
The men were able to defeat the Seahawks 78-54 in their largest victory of conference play, while to women won 66-54 for their third straight victory.
The men’s team previously lost to LA Harbor by two points, and at the time dropped Cerritos to 0-3.
Since then the Falcons have gone on a five game win streak and are 5-3 in conference play.
Cerritos has now beaten the three teams that beat them earlier in the season.
Head coach Russ May said, “I think our mindset has been much better this time, the sign of a good team is learning from your mistakes and improving.”
The men controlled LA Harbor throughout the game, and by halftime had a 42-25 lead.
In the second half the Falcons did not let up, outscoring Harbor 36 to 29 and closed the game out to officially get their revenge.
Freshman Dezmon Murphy said, “This time around everyone understood who we were playing and what kind of competition it was.”
Coaches and players alike agree that the Falcons’ focus has been the catalyst for the its recent success.
Murphy said, “We realized we can win it all, we just have to be focused 24/7 and do what we have to do and [May] is going to lead us to the promise land.”
May would like to see the team carry this mindset into the final week of conference play, but would also like to see his team remember the focus and concentration it had against LA Harbor.
The women’s team would also get revenge on the Seahawks, as LA Harbor is responsible for the Falcons first conference loss.
Women’s head coach Trisha Raniewicz was excited about the victory, but felt that this victory was more for the players.
“They lace them up and get out there everyday, and I feel like their hard work is rewarded.”
The women started out strong in the first quarter leading by as much 9 points, but that would not stop LA Harbor from competing.
Despite trailing 22-13 at the end of the first quarter, LA Harbor would fight back to reduce the deficit to two points by halftime.
In the third quarter, Cerritos pushed the lead to as much as 13 and finished the quarter up 9 points.
In the final quarter of play, the women applied steady pressure to Harbor not allowing them to come within 10 points.
In each of the women’s last three games they have not only been able to win by at least 12, but have been able to overcome slow first half performances to win the game.
Raniewicz said, “I think we might be a second half team […] it makes me a little nervous, but then that shows resiliency and thats a great word and a great characteristic to have this time a year.”
The men and women are now entering their final week of conference play before the postseason begins.
The men now have sole possession of second place in confernce only behind 7-1 EC-Compton.
The women’s team is in a tie for third place with LA Harbor both at 5-3 in conference.
The two teams in front of Cerritos are second place Long Beach City and first place El Camino, who are the two remaining games on the Falcon’s schedule.
Both the men and women will host Long Beach City Wednessday and travel to El Camino on Friday.
May and Raniewicz will both be looking to fine tune their respective teams before the postseason.
May would like his team to stay aggressive and have each player fill his role; while maintaining the same level of focus the Falcons have displayed these last five games.
While Raniewicz said, “We have to play 40 minutes, we have to have composure and take care of the ball […] we’re just going to have to stay together as a team.”
