Men's Basketball: Long Beach holds on for 67-65 SCC win over Cerritos

Sophomore forward Stephan Heard's (Jordan HS) layup with 38 seconds left in the game broke a 63-63 tie and helped propel the Long Beach City College men's basketball team to a crucial 67-65 South Coast Conference South Division win over rival Cerritos College on Friday night at the LBCC Hall of Champions Gym.

The win helps the Vikings keep pace with first-place L.A. Harbor College who entered tonight's action one game ahead of LBCC with a 7-2 division record. Long Beach is now 12-10 overall and 7-3 in the SCC South with just three games left to play.

The game went back and forth as the contest was tied eight times and saw the lead change hands 12 times.

Cerritos held its biggest lead of the first half by six points at 35-29 with 13 seconds to go. But freshman forward Robert Mandingo (Dominguez HS) sank a pair of free throws with one second left to send the Vikings into the break trailing by four points.

Late in the second half, Long Beach appeared to be on its way to the easy win. Freshman guard Ronald Nezey's (Poly HS) layup with 3:33 left in the game gave the Vikings' its biggest lead of the night at 63-56.

But Cerritos answered with a 7-0 run. Anthony Scott's layup got Cerritos within one point and a free throw by Darius Williams tied the game at 63.

The Vikings came down the court and missed a pair of three-pointers before the Falcons' Addaryl Thomas traveled after grabbing the defensive rebound.

Freshman guard Raynard Tyler (Jordan HS) fed Heard for the go-ahead bucket on the next trip down the court and the Vikings sank a pair of free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Heard was one of two Vikings to post a double-double on the night. He totaled 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with four assists. Mandingo came off the bench and chipped in with 14 points, 12 rebounds, and three steals, while Tyler scored a team-high 15 points.

Keith Wiltz led Cerritos (8-16, 2-8 SCC) with 16 points. Scott scored 14 points, while Williams led the Falcons with 12 rebounds.

Long Beach returns to action on Tuesday (Feb. 9) when it travels to LA Southwest College for a 7 p.m. SCC South Division game.