Cerritos holds of Yuba, 83-77, to gain semifinal berth in CCCAA Men's Basketball Championships.

Photo by Felix Cortez
Photo by Felix Cortez
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Team Stats

March 9, 2018

Tournament Central

VENTURA, Calif. - Sophomore Demetrius Thomas scored a team-high 20 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds on Friday afternoon as Cerritos College beat Yuba College, 83-77, in the second quarterfinal matchup of the 2018 California Community College Athletic Association Men's Basketball Championship at Ventura College.

The win propels the Falcons (27-5) into a 7 p.m. semifinal game on Saturday against either City College of San Francisco or Allan Hancock College, which play later Friday. Yuba (25-6) got a game-best 26 points from Elishja Duplechan and 17 from Jeryn Lucas. 

Cerritos never trailed in the game but they also couldn't pull away from the 49ers either. The Falcons scored the first seven points of the game only to see Yuba rattle off seven of the next nine. Later in the half, they led by 10 points but Yuba came back to climb within 31-28. Cerritos led 37-28 at halftime.

A 10-4 run cut a 41-31 Yuba deficit to just 45-41 but the Falcons turned back every attempt by the 49ers to either tie or take the lead. Jonathan Guzman's layup with 9:21 left gave Cerritos a 60-52 lead but the 49ers scored 10 of the next 13 points to get back in it and only trail 65-62 with still more than six minutes on the clock. 

Yuba twice got to within two points inside the final four minutes - the last time coming at 72-70 after a layup from Lucas - but Cerritos continued to provide the answer and hold off the 49ers. Josh Dhatt scored inside with 39 seconds left to make it an 80-77 game but Christian Alvis made a couple of threes with 15 seconds left to give the Falcons some breathing room 

Thomas grabbed nine of his dozen rebounds on the offensive side and added four assists and a block while playing 40 minutes. Three other Falcons scored in double figures; Keshaun Mack (13), Riley Hamilton (12), Jonathan Guzman (11) and Cody Wilkes (10). 

Cerritos enjoyed a good night from the field, making 52% of its shots in the first half and 49% for the game. It also converted 9 of 15 3-point attempts. Yuba, which shot just 29.6% in the first half warmed up well in the second, making 52.8%. The 49ers were also good on 10 of 24 (.417) trey attempts.

Lucas added nine rebounds to his 17 points while Isiah Bates scored 12 points  Jayshon Lewis finished with 11.