Community College Basketball : OCC Improves Its Shaughnessy Chances

Monday night’s South Coast Conference game between Compton and Orange Coast colleges was crucial, but only the Pirates seemed to be aware of that fact.

Compton often looked lethargic, while Orange Coast played with the reckless abandon reserved for big games. The result in Peterson Gym was a 67-55 Orange Coast victory that greatly improved the Pirates’ chances of making the Shaughnessy playoffs and seriously jeopardized Compton’s postseason hopes.

Forwards Shaughn Ryan and Brad Farmer scored 27 and 18 points, respectively, as Orange Coast (8-6 in the SCC and 17-11 overall) remained in fourth place, a half game ahead of Cypress, with its fourth straight win. Compton (5-8, 10-14) is tied with Saddleback for sixth place. The second through fifth-place finishers in the SCC go on to the Shaughnessy playoffs.

If Orange Coast had lost, its postseason hopes might have been, too. The Pirates have two conference games left, against first-place Cerritos and Mt. San Antonio. Beating both teams would be asking too much of Orange Coast.

The Pirates didn’t score for the first 3:23 of the second half, but then got hot to pull away from the Tartars. Farmer led Orange Coast on a 10-2 scoring streak that gave the Pirates a 40-29 lead, and Compton never got closer than six points after that, even though Orange Coast missed four one-and-one free throw opportunities late in the game.

COMPTON (55)--Bullock 4, Fleming 6, D. Johnson 15, R. Johnson 8, Stewart 6, Cross 6, Henderson 8, LeGardye 2.

ORANGE COAST (67))--Ryan 27, Farmer 18, Johnston 8, Goudge 7, Morton 4, Drake 1.

Halftime--Orange Coast, 30-25.

In other South Coast Conference action:

Fullerton 73, Golden West 55--Center Michael Long scored 18 of his 22 points and forward Jon Samuelson 16 of his 20 in the second half as the host Hornets (10-3, 16-10) beat the Rustlers (0-14, 7-20). The victory moved Fullerton into a second-place tie with Mt. San Antonio, which lost to Cerritos, 66-64. The loss was Golden West’s 15th straight.

GOLDEN WEST (55)--Love 10, Mann 4, Debbs 2, Bruce 18, Smith 12, Jeffers 9.

FULLERTON (73)--Smith 8, Trueman 8, Long 22, Samuelson 20, Pratt 6, Duddy 2, Haymond 3, Melton 4.

Halftime--Fullerton, 21-17.

Cypress 87, Santa Ana 63--Scott Swanner scored 16 points and Jeff Martineau added 15 as the Chargers (7-6, 13-10) routed the Dons (2-11, 10-16) in a game marred by 58 fouls at Cypress. Santa Ana’s Jeff Hughes led all scorers with 24 points.

SANTA ANA (63)--Hata 2, Hughes 24, Warner 6, Escobedo 3, Meagher 4, Williams 2, Prange 8, Shaw 10, McCall 4.

CYPRESS (87)--Bailey 6, Martineau 15, Gerlach 6, Umans 3, Horn 10, Buckner 6, Simmons 4, Marusich 10, Swanner 16, Kramer 6, Swenson 5.

Halftime--Cypress, 45-23.