On the strength of their 75-65 win over host San Diego City College, the Cerritos College men's basketball team moves one step closer to advancing to the 3C2A State Tournament. The #11-seeded Falcons (22-8) defeated the #6-seeded Knights and will now take on #3-seed East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park at 7:00 p.m. next Saturday. East LA defeated Santa Ana College, 75-68 to advance to the next round. The winner advances to the 3C2A State Tournament. Back on November, 20, Cerritos posted a 77-76 win over the Huskies.

Against San Diego City (23-6), the Falcons led from start to finish, as they opened the game by scoring the first five points. Leading 15-12, sophomore Spencer Ezewiro (Paramount HS/Moberly Area, MO CC) knocked down a jumper, while sophomore Andrew Mata (Schurr HS/Holy Cross, IN College) followed with a three-pointer. Another Ezewiro bucket made it an 11-point (27-16) lead with 4:43 left in the first half. By intermission, Cerritos had extended their lead to 31-17, as Ezewiro was a force inside the paint.

A 13-7 start to the second half extended the team's lead to 20 points (44-24) over the Pacific Coast Conference champions and winners of 10 games in a row. The Knights made several runs in the second half, but the Falcons were up to the challenge, with sophomore Darron Henry (Long Beach Poly HS) and Mata draining consecutive three-pointers to bring the lead back to 18 points with 11.38 remaining.

Cerritos was able to clamp down on defense and limited SD City in the first half to 30% field goal shooting. Although they improved that dramatically in the second half, most of it came after the Falcons held their solid lead and the Knights made the decision to drive to the hoop on very possession.

Henry converted a three-point play with 4:14 remaining to make it a 59-46 lead, while the Falcons converted 11-of-12 free throws in the final three minutes to secure the win. 

Leading the way for Cerritos was Henry with 24 points, five assists and four rebounds, while he also made 9-of-11 free throws, with Ezewiro contributing 21 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Marcel Hayes (Long Beach Poly HS) accounted for 10 points, six rebounds and three assists, while Mata provided six points and three rebounds off the bench.