Men’s Water Polo: Vikings secure top seed for SCC tournament with 15-8 win over Cerritos

The No. 4 state-ranked Long Beach City College men's water polo team rolled to an 15-8 South Coast Conference win over visiting rival Cerritos College on Wednesday.

With the victory, LBCC secured the top spot for next week's South Coast Conference Championship tournament. The Vikings also completed the conference schedule unbeaten at 5-0 and improved to 15-7 overall.

Long Beach held a slim 3-2 lead after the first quarter and was up 8-5 at halftime before jumping ahead with five goals in the third.

A goal by Cerritos' PJ Gabayeron got the Falcons within three (10-7) at the 3:00 mark before the Vikings closed out the quarter with three straight goals. Freshmen Tyler Kennedy (2:19) and Nemanja Jokanovic (00:46) scored and sophomore Scott Butler skipped in a shot as the third-quarter buzzer went off to give LBCC a commanding 13-7 advantage heading into the fourth.

Long Beach played a strong defensive fourth quarter and held Cerritos to a lone goal and added a pair of scores of its own by freshmen Julian Laffiche and Tristan Winterhalter to close out the game.

Eight different Vikings scored in the contest while Jokanovic, Winterhalter, and sophomore Janko Jovanovic all scored three goals each to lead Long Beach.

Isaac Ogloblin led the Falcons with three goals. Cerritos, ranked No. 6 in the state, dropped to 4-1 in the SCC and 15-9 overall.

The Long Beach men return to action on Friday (Oct. 29) when they host American River College in a non-conference game at 3pm. The SCC Championships are set for November 4-6 at Cerritos College.