City College of San Francisco gets past Cerritos in tournament opener, 82-70
3C2A Men's Basketball Championship Tournament Central
WALNUT - The hunt for five is on.
With San Francisco City's 82-70 victory over Cerritos in a quarterfinal game of the 3C2A State Men's Basketball Championship, the Rams moved a step closer to head coach Justin Labagh claiming his fifth state title.
Doing so would make Labagh the all-time leader in state championship titles, breaking his tie with legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian. Tarkanian won four state titles, three consecutive titles with Riverside City and another at Pasadena City. Labagh has matched Tarkanian's mark after winning state titles in 2011, 2016, 2018 and 2022.
With its victory over Cerritos, San Francisco City, which has won 15 straight contests, moves on to the semifinals where the Rams will meet the winner of #2S Citrus and #3N Las Positas on Saturday at a time to be determined by the state office (either 1 pm or 3 pm).
Trailing by 10 at halftime, Cerritos (23-9) battled to stay in the game. With 11:40 left, Cerritos had managed to cut the Rams' lead to under 10 at 53-45, but like they had done all game, the Rams answered. San Francisco City used a 9-2 run to open a 62-47 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining.
With 7:46 left, Cerritos behind a Spencer Ezewiro layup, the Falcons managed to get back with 10 points at 65-55. But again San Francisco City answered, extending its lead to 78-60, which proved to be the Rams' largest lead of the game with 3:54 left.
Neither team was particularly deadly on the offensive end of the floor. San Francisco City came into the game with one of the state's most prolific offenses, averaging 92.4 points a game, which is the fourth best in the state. The Rams finished the contest 28 of 66 from the floor and 12 of 32 from the three-point line.
Cerritos also struggled, going 22 off 5 from the floor (40 percent) and 7 of 21 from the three-point line (33 percent). The Falcons had three players score in double figures, led by Darron Henry, a first-team all-conference selection, with 19. Dillon Botts added 17 and Marcel Hayes chipped in 10.
San Francisco City (30-1) got a game-high 26 points from sophomore Ray-John Spears. Spears was 7 of 15 from the floor and 6 of 13 from beyond the arc. Teammates Rickey Mitchell Jr. and King-Njhsanni Wilhite, an all-conference selection, added 19 and 17, respectively. Coast-North player of the year, Miles Amos, was held to 6 points and fouled out late in the second hlalf.
"He has been doing it all year," Labagh said of Spears' effort in the win over Cerritos. "It is a huge luxury to be able to bring him off the bench like that."
San Francisco City, which pressured Cerritos from the opening tipoff, forced 16 Cerritos turnovers.
"Cerritos is a good team," Labagh said. "We wanted to do something things to get into their bench. Cerritos has won their last three games by making runs, so we wanted to speed things up and throw some different things at them."
Labagh downplayed breaking Tarkanian's mark for state titles.
"The pay is the same," he joked. "It would be nice for these guys. Every team is different, but these guys deserve (a state title). And, we are excited to be in the position to bring another title (to San Francisco City.)"
(Robert Schmidt, CCCMBCA)
