Cerritos College’s May Has His Day in 66-64 Win Over El Camino

After last week’s 14-point loss at home to Long Beach City College, El Camino College men’s basketball Coach Ron McClurkin said the Warriors played better on the road. He was right.

The Warriors played 40 minutes of intense basketball against Cerritos College Wednesday night, but lost, 66-64, in a South Coast Conference game at Cerritos.

With five seconds left to play, Cerritos guard Carlos Palomino missed a shot, but center Russ May grabbed the rebound. The 6-foot-6 sophomore made a 10-foot basket with a second remaining.

El Camino called timeout, but a length-of-the-court pass failed as time expired.

Cerritos, ranked 12th in the state, improved to 21-6 overall and 2-1 in the SCC. The Warriors fell to 17-9 and 1-2.

“The kids played great,” McClurkin said. “This is the best effort we’ve ever had. We couldn’t ask for anything more other than a win.”

Sophomore guard Keishaun Darthard led the Warriors with 18 points. Freshman Steve King had 16 and sophomore Mike Houck had 11.

Cerritos was led by forward Matt Mitchell’s 18 points.

“It was a tough, tough battle,” Cerritos Coach Jack Bogdanovich said. “Both teams played extremely hard defense. It was definitely a defensive ballgame.”

El Camino has been known for slow starts this season, but against Cerritos, the Warriors reversed that trend.

El Camino never trailed in the first half. It led by narrow margins until the break and with 3:11 left, the Warriors were up by seven points.

Cerritos went on a 6-0 run and trailed, 28-27, with 32 seconds left before half. Darthard made a short jump shot with nine seconds left, but Cerritos’ Edgar Loera made a bank shot at the buzzer, cutting El Camino’s lead to 30-29 at halftime.

A 15-foot jump shot by Loera gave the Falcons their first lead early in the second half. El Camino tied the score at 53 after a King dunk with 8:12 left to play. Neither team led by more than four after that.

El Camino plays host to Pasadena City College on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.