Community College Basketball : Fullerton Goes in Shorthanded but Gives Cerritos a Good Battle

Even though Fullerton College was playing without starting forward Derrell Pratt (who had the flu) and reserve forward Paul Thomas (who quit the team), the Hornets didn’t concede anything against powerful Cerritos Saturday night.

In a game that some expected to be a blowout even if Fullerton had been at full strength, the Hornets almost gave Cerritos more than it could handle before losing their third straight.

The Hornets, who have been plagued by inconsistency all season, looked like they would pull off an upset until midway in the second half when the Falcons finally took control and went on to a 65-60 win in the South Coast Conference opener for both at Cerritos.

The Hornets (6-8 overall) used a deliberate offense and tough zone defense to stop Cerritos’ fast break and held a 38-33 lead early in the second half. It was then that Cerritos (10-3) slowly began its comeback behind the play of guards Joe Yezbak and Russell Heicke.

Yezbak and Heicke paced a 7-0 Cerritos scoring streak that gave the Falcons a 56-52 lead and, in effect, the game as Fullerton was unable to recover. Key free throw misses by Michael Long and Jon Samuelson in the final two minutes ended any Fullerton hopes of a rally.

But even though Fullerton lost, and did so by blowing a lead, Coach Roger See was rather pleased with his team, considering it was without Pratt and Thomas.

“We played well considering we were shorthanded,” he said. “Cerritos runs well and have blown some good people out this year, but we took the tempo right away and kept it most of the game.”

The Hornets did such a good job of setting the tempo that Cerritos, which prefers to run-and-gun, didn’t look anywhere near as formidable as the two previous Falcon teams that easily won conference championships in 1983 and 1984.

Cerritos Coach Jack Bogdanovich could not explain why the Falcons had such a difficult time in winning, other than it was just a rare off night.

“I know we did not play well, but I don’t know why,” he said. “We’re usually a very good shooting team, but tonight we were bad from all over the court and from the (free throw) line.”

Fullerton led, 30-29, at halftime and then came out and tried to make the game a rout in the first few minutes of the second half. Fullerton made its first four field goal attempts in the half but, in addition to giving the Hornets a 38-33 lead, the Fullerton spurt also served to motivate Cerritos out of its lethargy.

After a timeout, Yezbak and Heicke, who each had 16 points, starting making their outside shots and the momentum shifted. A 20-footer by Yezbak gave Cerritos a 47-46 lead with 10:45 left and things got worse for the Hornets after that.

Marlon Wadlington added 14 points for Cerritos, while Long (16 points) and Samuelson (15) led Fullerton. The Hornets host Orange Coast in their first home game of the season Wednesday, and Pratt is expected to return to the lineup.

FULLERTON (60)--Samuelson 15, Long 16, Rollins 4, Smith 12, Trueman 7, Haymond 6.

CERRITOS (65)--Coleman 14, Guy 5, Wadlington 14, Heicke 16, Yezbak 16.

Halftime--Fullerton, 30-29. In other South Coast action:

Orange Coast 58, Cypress 56--The Pirates led most of the game and by as many as nine points in the second half at Peterson Gym. Cypress grabbed the lead at 48-47 with 5:53 remaining on a pair of free throws by Ron Bailey. The Pirates regained the lead at 55-54 with 1:11 to go on Mark Goudge’s free throws.

Cypress went into a stall with 18 seconds left but turned the ball over on a bad pass. OCC’s Jon Johnston was fouled on the inbound pass and made two free throws. John Berwick scored underneath for Cypress with seven seconds left to cut OCC’s lead to 57-56. Shaughn Ryan was fouled with four seconds left and hit one free throw. Berwick then took a length-of-the-court pass and drove in for an apparent basket, but it was just after the buzzer.

CYPRESS (56)--Bailey 13, Martineau 4, Horn 5, Swanner 3, Berwick 14, Gerlach 2, Umans 4, Kramer 11.

ORANGE COAST (58)--Johnston 10, Goudge 13, Morton 2, Ryan 19, Drake 3, Mullet 5, Toomey 2, Farmer 4.

Halftime--Orange Coast, 27-20.

Compton 82, Golden West 79--The Rustlers had a 39-30 halftime lead, but fell behind in their first South Coast Conference game at Compton. The Tartars outscored Golden West, 14-4, in the last four minutes of the first half to take the lead. Compton came out and outscored the Rustlers, 15-6, in the first six minutes of the second half to go up, 59-49. The Rustlers came back late in the game but were never a threat. Compton got most of its points on fast-break layups and dunks. Golden West is 7-7 while Compton is 6-6.

GOLDEN WEST (79)--Love 17, Hutson 16, Lorigan 20, Smith 7, Bruce 8, Mann 2, Debbs 9.

COMPTON (82)--D. Johnson 9, Fleming 8, R. Johnson 25, Bullock 17, Stuart 20, Cross 2.

Halftime--Compton, 44-43.

In nonconference action:

Santa Ana 86, Pomona-Pitzer JV 71--The Dons extended their home winning streak to seven games. Guards Jeff Hughes and Chuck Lewis each had 17 points to lead Santa Ana. Rob McNitt led Pomona with 17 points. Don guard Tim Streavel had a season-high 10 assists. Santa Ana (8-5) never trailed, although Pomona-Pitzer did close to 56-50 with 13 minutes left in the game.

POMONA-PITZER (71)--Rothman 2, Chinn 2, Struck 3, Iredell 3, Cook 14, McNitt 17, Green 14, Dowell 2, Hubbard 8, Watts 6.

SANTA ANA (86)--Lewis 17, Streaval 6, Ballard 2, Hughes 17, Warner 13, Escobedo 8, Meagher 4, Williams 2, Prange 8. Shaw 9

Halftime--Santa Ana, 41-35.