3rd State Title Leaves Coach in Disbelief : College basketball: Cerritos Falcons’ come-from-behind win surprises everybody, especially Jack Bogdanovich.

Never in his wildest dreams did Jack Bogdanovich envision the Cerritos College men’s basketball team winning a state title this season.

“The way we practiced I felt we would fall apart somewhere down the line,” he said.

But Bogdanovich was all smiles--although still in disbelief--earlier this week while savoring the Falcons’ come-from-behind 89-87 victory over West Valley College of Saratoga.

The victory at the San Jose Events Center on Saturday gave Bogdanovich his third state title. And the way the Falcons did it surprised their coach.

“We basically broke all the rules of a team, like having a hard work ethic,” he said.

Cerritos (33-4) also defeated Columbia College, 79-77, and Ventura College, 82-74.

Bogdanovich, who has averaged 27 wins a season, said he has had more talented teams than this one. Although the Falcons were ranked fourth in the state entering the three-day, eight-team tournament, they finished second in the South Coast Conference behind Long Beach City College, which was eliminated in the state semifinals on Friday. Before the tournament, Bogdanovich predicted an early exit for the Falcons.

“I didn’t expect that much toughness (from them),” he said. “I expected us to disintegrate. But we didn’t.”

Forward Bill Mazurie was named the tournament’s most valuable player after averaging 27.5 points a game, 10 points above his season average. Guards Javier Zavala and Jeff Polloreno took care of the ball better than they had in past games. Forward Matt Mitchell and center Paul White rebounded well.

But Bogdanovich gave much of the credit for the title to backup players who, until last week, had not lived up to their potential.

“This was the worst team I have coached,” he said. “Some of the freshmen were not coming along as well as we liked, and then we got into the tournament and the guys off the bench did a really great job.”

Backup point guard Dashon Quiette filled in aptly in the backcourt and forwards Raymond Johnson, Jason Pietsch and Todd Anderson combined to score 21 points against West Valley, which led the Falcons by 11 at one stretch.

Still in disbelief as he left the arena after the win, Bogdanovich was met by the players as they boarded the team bus.

“They were laughing at me,” he said. “They won this thing with camaraderie and spirit, and they wanted me to know that.”