Losing Bug Bites El Camino Again : Cerritos Wins in 2 Overtimes, 103-99

El Camino can’t shake the bug. It’s a nasty bug that has given the Warriors a three-game losing streak.

The latest mishap occured Saturday night when El Camino fell 103-99 in double overtime, for the second consecutive game, to 19th-ranked Cerritos.

The Warriors fell to 2-5 in the five-member South Coast Conference and 17-11 overall. Cerritos, the league’s best team, improved to 5-1 and 18-10 overall.

“The guys played hard in these last three games,” said El Camino Coach Ron McClurkin, “they just came up on the wrong side.”

Cerritos’ Mike Coffin made a pair of free throws with 34 seconds left in the second overtime to secure the Falcon victory. Wayne Gipson, who ended with 27 points, sank another one with nine seconds remaining for the final score.

The Warriors were led by Keith Brown and David Keeter, each with 22 points. Larry Lockley had 14.

El Camino fell behind in the opening minutes of the game. The Warriors trailed by eight with 16:55 left for the break, but an 11-point run put them ahead 21-18 with 12:41 remaining.

Cerritos and El Camino exchanged leads after that, but the Falcons ended with a 45-41 halftime edge.

But El Camino finally started making the easy inside shots and, with 8:34 remaining, the Warriors took the lead 70-68, for the first time in the second half when Darius Dubose sank two free throws.

Cerritos’ Scott Roczey hit a three-pointer with 1:33 left, which put the Falcons ahead 83-82.

El Camino trailed after that until Brown hit a three-pointer at the buzzer that sent the game into overtime with the score tied at 87.

Cerritos guard Doug Newby, a shooting force from the outside, made the three-pointer with 27 seconds left that sent the game into the second overtime.

The sophomore guard had a career-high and game-high 28 points.