IRVINE, Calif. – The College of the Canyons men's basketball team dropped an 81-74 decision to Cerritos College on Thursday afternoon in the first round of the San Juan Hills Classic. Forward Zach Davis led the team with his 21 points and seven rebounds and forward Illya Ilyayev had his first double-double of the season with 12 rebounds and 14 points.
The Cougars built up a 10-point lead, 41-31, with just a 1:34 left to go in the first half. But, COC ended the half with two turnovers and allowed the Falcons to go on a 5-2 run, giving COC a 43-36 lead at the break.
Cerritos slowly came back into the contest, while the Cougars shot 32 percent from the field. The Falcons took their first lead of the second half, 53-52, at with just 13:07 left before the break. Cerritos scored the next seven consecutive points and held a 60-52 lead with 9:26 left in regulation.
The Cougars tied up the game at 62, thanks to a Davis layup and then used two back-to-back three-pointers from Roman Delgado and David Horst to take a 70-69 lead at the 3:09 mark.
Despite the Cougars keeping it close, the Falcons closed out the final two minutes on a 12-4 run to put Canyons away.
Joining Davis and Ilyayev with double-figure points was Horst and Delgado, with 15 and 12 points, respectively. Sophomore Delgado had a team-high five assists, while Ilyayev had three blocks.
Canyons shot 45.0 percent (27-60) from the floor, but was hampered by 20 turnovers and allowing Cerritos to score 28 points off those turnovers. In addition, the Cougars were outrebounded 44-39 by the Falcons, giving up 18 offensive boards to Cerritos College.
Canyons will play Santa Monica College, for the second time in this young season, at 1 p.m. in the consolation bracket.
