SG Jamar Cannon scored 22 pts and SF Anthony Foster scored 18 as #13 LA Harbor led wire to wire over visiting #8 Cerritos in a 76-58 win that results in a 3-way tie for the South Coast Conference South Division championship.
Harbor (21-6, 10-3) led wire to wire for its 7th straight victory, holding the Falcons to 27.5% shooting from the floor on the night. The Seahawks held a modest 30-24 lead at the half, but started the second half with a 19-5 run in the first 6:03 of the second half to take control of the game.
According to Cerritos Sports Information Director John Van Gaston, the SCC uses a head-to-head tiebreaker for playoff selection & seeding criteria. Cerritos, on the basis of having beaten Long Beach twice and split the two games with Harbor for a 3-1 head-to-head record, will receive the SCC-South's top playoff seed, followed by Harbor and then Long Beach.
Friday, Cannon started the game with a 3-pointer for Harbor, and the Seahawks never trailed though it was tied 3-3 and 5-5. PF Elliot Morris threw down a dunk on a fast break to give Harbor a 12-6 lead.
Cerritos (17-10, 10-3) drew within three points at 14-11 and 18-15 midway through the first half before Harbor started to pull away. A fast-break basket by Foster made it 22-15 with 6:15 left before halftime, and Cannon drained a 3-pointer to push the lead to ten at 25-15. A free throw by PG Kenneth Greene and a dunk by SF Dushone Brown after a steal & pass from PG Brandon Boyd made it 28-15 with 3:18 left in the first half. At that point, Cerritos had made just 5 of 30 field goal attempts on the night.
After a timeout, the Falcons went on a 9-0 run to get back in the game, starting with a driving lay-up by SG Kevin Conrad. A steal & slam by Ctr Jarion Henry completed the run and made it 28-24 with 1:39 left in the half. Foster scored for Harbor in the final seconds of the half to make it 30-24 at the break.
But when the second half began, not only did Harbor make some shots, but Cerritos resumed its frigid shooting it had endured for much of the first half. Foster hit a 3-pointer and his brother Ctr Andre Foster hit a baseline jumper to make it 35-24, and then Anthony made two free throws to make it 37-24 1:42 into the second half as Cerritos missed its first 3 shots of the half.
Cerritos got a basket from PF T.J. Traylor, but Cannon answered with a 3-pointer to make it 40-26. Then baskets by Andre Foster and Morris made it 44-26 less than five minutes into the second half. A 3-pointer by Anthony Foster made it 49-29 with 13:57 left, at which point Cerritos was 10-for-44 from the floor (23%) on the night.
LA Harbor led by double digits the rest of the way. Cerritos made one final incursion into the deficit, getting within 14 points at 56-42 with about 9 minutes left to play. But Harbor pushed the lead to 24 points with a 10-0 run in less than two minutes, settling the matter of the outcome and creating the 3-way tie for the division championship.
Cannon led all scorers with his 22 pts, which included 5 three-pointers. Anthony Foster had 18 pts and added 3 rebs and 4 asts, while Andre had 10 pts and 8 rebs. Morris had a the game's only double-double with 10 pts and 10 rebs. Boyd just missed a double-double despite not scoring a point, putting together a vintage Jason Kidd-like line of 0 pts, 10 rebs, 9 asts, 3 steals and a blocked shot.
For Cerritos, Henry had a very active night with 19 pts, 9 rebs, 2 asts, 2 blocks and 2 steals, and he also fell to the floor at least 5 times. But only back-up PG Micah Winn joined him in scoring in double figures; Winn finished with 10 pts. The remainder of the Falcons combined to make just 10 of 44 shots, which careful readers will remember is 23% (since the Falcons as a team began the night 10-for-44 over the first 26:03.
box score
Friday, February 21, 2014 - 7 pm
at LA Harbor College, Wilmington
SCC-South
Cerritos Falcons 58:
1-Austin Pope, PG - 2/11 fg, 2/2 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 7 pts
2-Jordan Reise, SF - 0/7 fg, 1/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 pf, 1 pt
3-Victor Jones, SG - 2/11 fg, 2/2 ft, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 6 pts
11-T.J. Traylor, PF - 2/5 fg, 1/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 blk, 2 pf, 5 pts
15-Jarion Henry, C - 5/14 fg, 6/10 ft, 9 reb, 2 ast, 2 blk, 2 stl, 2 pf, 19 pts
21-Micah Winn, G - 4/10 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 10 pts
4-Kevin Conrad, G - 2/7 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk, 1 stl, 1 pf, 5 pts
13-Josh Bell, F - 2/3 fg, 0/3 ft, 6 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 4 pts
55-Iyke Akajiobi, C - 0 pts
14-Jon Benson, F - 0/1 fg, 1/2 ft, 1 pt
33-Isaac Okebiorun, C - 0 pts
5-Taylor Douglas, G - 0 pts
team rebounds: 9
Totals: 19/69 fg (.275), 14/25 ft (.560), 42 reb, 9 ast, 6 blk, 7 stl, 10 pf, 58 pts
3-pt fg (6): Henry 3, Pope, Winn, Conrad
Turnovers (10): Henry 5, Jones 3, Traylor, Bell
LA Harbor Seahawks 76:
2-Elliot Morris, PF - 5/13 fg, 0/2 ft, 10 reb, 1 ast, 3 pf, 10 pts
3-Brandon Boyd, PG - 0/2 fg, 9 reb, 10 ast, 1 blk, 3 stl, 4 pf, 0 pts
4-Anthony Foster, SF - 6/11 fg, 3/4 ft, 3 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 1 pf, 18 pts
5-Andre Foster, C - 5/10 fg, 8 reb, 1 blk, 2 pf, 10 pts
32-Jamar Cannon, SG - 8/15 fg, 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 pf, 22 pts
55-Cary Brooks, C - 1/4 fg, 1/2 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 2 blk, 3 pf, 3 pts
23-Kenneth Greene, G - 3/6 fg, 1/2 ft, 5 reb, 4 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 7 pts
10-Dushone Brown, F - 2/4 fg, 3 reb, 1 pf, 4 pts
1-Ronald Robinson, C - 2 pf, 0 pts
25-Stephen Knox, F - 1/1 fg, 2 pts
team rebounds: 7
Totals: 31/66 fg (.470), 6/12 ft (.500), 53 reb, 22 ast, 5 blk, 4 stl, 20 pf, 76 pts
3-pt fg (8): Cannon 5, Anthony Foster 3
Turnovers (13): Anthony Foster 4, Boyd 2, Cannon 2, Greene 2, Andre Foster, Brooks, Brown
Halftime Score: LA Harbor 30, Cerritos 24
Updated Records: LA Harbor (#13-South) 21-6, 10-3 in SCC; Cerritos (#8-South, #16-Calif) 17-10, 10-3 in SCC
This result creates a 3-way tie (with Long Beach) for the SCC-South championship.
