The Cerritos College falcons lost a heartbreaker against Long Beach City Vikings with a final score of 71-58.
The first five minutes were great for the Cerritos Falcons since they had 13 points while Vikings only scored 7 points, which resulted in the first timeout by Vikings.
In the first half, the Falcons were getting great offensive rebounds (outrebounded Vikings 21 to 16) but one of the main issues was the fouls, in which Cerritos had more fouls than Vikings. Another issue was the seven turnovers that Cerritos had compared to the Vikings’ four.
While they could’ve shot better on offense, the Falcons defense was good and their ability to get rebounds were good as well. The score was 31-30 at the half and while the Falcons could’ve played better, the game was definitely in reach.
The second half looked promising when Jackson Barnhill started the half with a three-pointer, which felt like a momentum shifter.
However, Bonard Johnson (the Vikings Freshman Guard) went 7-12 in two-pointers while going 3-6 from three in the second half, resulting in 20 points.
After not shooting well from the field (1-5 from two-point range), he scored five straight points and resulting in a Falcons’ timeout. The score is 42-37 with 15 minutes left in the game, Johnson made five of the ten points in the last three minutes for Vikings.
After that timeout, Vikings began to pull away and their largest lead was when they were up by 14 with 9:29 to play in the second half.
Cerritos shot 33.8% (from two-point range) in the second half compared to their almost 40% from the field and shot 24% from three, which dipped from 27%.
Juice Belvin was the sixth man and scored 15 points, Jalen Shores had 10 plus Jackson Barnhill scored 13 points.
After the game, Barry Barnes talked about how Vikings are, “a defensive-minded team first.” He also mentioned two of three goals for the team, which were defense and rebounding.
Even though the falcons’ shot poorly from the field, they had good rebounding in the first half and need to focus on limiting turnovers plus fouls.
Just looking at the falcons’ last game against Long Beach City, the score was flipped where the Falcons blew out the Vikings. Shooting-wise, it wasn’t the Falcons’ night but the recent game is more of an outlier than a trendsetter.
The falcons’ didn’t have as many fast-break points but were close to the Vikings in the majority of stats. While the scoreboard may mislead you, this was not domination on all fronts for the Vikings.
Cerritos is now fourth in their conference (behind Long Beach, LA Southwest and Compton) and as of Feb. 7th, are not ranked in the CCCAA rankings, which is worrisome.
The Cerritos Falcons have five more games left to play in the season and are 4-3, which is one behind Compton and LA West while two behind Long Beach. While the Falcon’s are not going to play the Vikings, they have an important game against LA Harbor and at Compton.
