El Camino Starts Fast, but Fades in the Stretch and Is Defeated by Cerritos, 59-57

For the second consecutive game, the El Camino College basketball team blew an 11-point, second-half lead against one of the South Coast Conference’s best teams.

Last week the Warriors lost to Long Beach City College, 74-66. On Wednesday night Cerritos College defeated El Camino, 59-57, at Torrance.

El Camino had two chances to send the game into overtime. With six seconds left, Troy Williams missed a baseline jump shot that could have tied the score at 59. With three seconds left, Steve King missed two free throws after being fouled by Cerritos’ Mike Miller.

“The officials took the game from us,” El Camino Coach Ron McClurkin said. “That’s all I have to say about this game. I have no other comment.”

Cerritos Coach Jack Bogdanovich thought the game was called evenly.

“I thought the first couple of calls of the ballgame hurt us,” he said. “I was upset early and (McClurkin) was upset late. We’re even.”

The Falcons are 26-6 overall and 6-1 in league play. The Warriors fell to 18-12 and 2-5.

The game started slowly, with neither team scoring a field goal in the first four minutes.

After Keishaun Darthard sank three free throws in opening minutes, Michael Houck made a three-point shot to put the Warriors ahead, 6-0, with 15:56 left before halftime.

Cerritos finally scored with 14:30 left when forward Matt Mitchell made two free throws.

The Warriors increased their lead to 13 on a baseline jump shot by Nique Stewart with 9:25 left. Minutes later, Cerritos went on a 7-0 run that cut the lead to five, but El Camino responded with a run to take a 39-28 halftime lead.

Cerritos opened the second half with a 6-0 run, and with 10:33 left, the Falcons came within four after Mitchell sank two free throws. A three-point basket by Cerritos’ Doug Grove shaved El Camino’s lead to 51-49 with 7:51 left.

The Warriors never led by more than four after that. A three-point basket by Cerritos guard Carlos Palomino gave the Falcons their first lead, 56-55, with 2:23 left to play and the Warriors never came back after that.

Darthard was the only El Camino player to score in double figures. The sophomore guard had a game-high 20 points and Houck had eight. Cerritos was led by Mitchell, who had 18 points.

El Camino will play its last game of the regular season on Saturday at Pasadena City College.