Harbor College Stuns Third-Ranked Cerritos : Basketball: A 13-2 run midway through the second half helps secure a 94-80 victory.

There wasn’t much time for celebration after Harbor College’s stunning 94-80 victory over Cerritos Wednesday night at Wilmington.

Moments after the game ended, a skirmish ensued near half court between fans. Seahawk Coach Carl Strong ordered his players into the locker room immediately.

But 15 minutes later, when order was restored, Seahawk guard Roland Merriweather stepped out of the locker room. Nobody, though, was there to celebrate the Seahawks’ victory over the state’s third-ranked team.

“We expected to win this game,” said Merriweather, who scored 22 points. “All year we knew we had the ability to put a game like this together. Tonight we came together as a nucleus.”

Harbor is 15-3 and 4-3 in the South Coast Conference. Cerritos is 22-4 and 6-1.

Sophomore forward Bassirou Niang, a native of France, led the Seahawks with 25 points, including two three-point baskets. He also made all seven of his free throws. Todd Anderson of Cerritos led all scorers with 28.

Leading, 58-57, with nine minutes 30 seconds left, the Seahawks went on a 13-2 run to take control of the game. Niang scored seven points during the run and Cerritos could not get closer than seven points the rest of the game.

“We couldn’t find our range and we were rushing things,” said Falcon forward Raymond Johnson, who finished with 12 points.

Said Strong: “We wanted to slow down their break so we had Bassirou stop their guard initially.”

During a tight first half, the Seahawks took a 17-14 lead on a David Boone layup with 11:24 remaining. But an 11-4 run, culminated by a short shot by Jahi Bacon, gave the Falcons a 25-21 lead with 7:41 left.

But the Seahawks lead at the break, 39-33.