Cerritos men’s basketball team falls to the East Los Angeles Huskies in a close 77-72 matchup.
In this game, Cerritos was up by 10 multiple times but allowed ELAC to stay in range until the final minutes of the game where they would eventually take a one-point lead.
“They prepare well and nothing was going right for us but because we prepare well we had the right intentions, you know at the end it went right for us, sometimes games are like that we weren’t guarding well, weren’t making shots, I think we shot 27% in the first half and it just wasn’t going well,” said ELAC Head Coach John Mosley.
“And at the end we got a few good plays and we were able to pull it out,” said Mosley.
ELAC dominated the Falcons on the offensive glass which helped them stay in contention throughout the whole game.
The Huskies capitalized on those extra offensive positions they earned by scoring a total of 19 second-chance points, doubling Cerritos in that category.
“I tell the guys all the time if we rebound the ball that gives us a chance, you can’t always count on all the three balls going in and layups going in but one thing we could do is have a high effort on the glass and that gives us momentum by crashing the glass,” said Mosley.
Going into the half Cerritos were up 33-41 but could’ve easily been up by more if there was more effort on the rebounding department.
“We don’t have a lot of size but collectively all five guys gotta rebound and rebounding is just an ability to mentally want the ball,” said Cerritos Head Coach Russ May.
This was a very physical game with both teams being able to get to the free throw line with ease. ELAC went 23-35 from the line while Cerritos was more efficient shooting 21-28. lol
The 12 missed free throws didn’t hurt the Huskies at the end as they were able to gain extra possessions with great hustle plays on the offensive glass.
Both teams also forced tons of turnovers with a total of 27 combined for both teams.
Cerritos took advantage of those turnovers by scoring 30 points off of them while ELAC was only able to score nine.
What matters most is when those turnovers are forced and the Huskies were able to force a couple in the final minutes of the game.
Within seven seconds, Cerritos turned the ball over keeping ELAC in this competition which ultimately cost them the game, an issue that has been reoccurring this season for the Falcons.
“Inexperience guys making inexperience plays down the stretch and they made the plays they needed to make and we didn’t, when you turn the ball over in the last two minutes which has been a problem for us all year it’s gonna be tough,” said Coach May.
Cerritos’ next game is on the road against Mt. Sac on Jan. 12th.
