Community College Basketball : Mt. SAC Beats Fullerton to Gain First-Place Tie

Fullerton College ended its regular season in the South Coast Conference with a narrow loss to Mt. San Antonio College Wednesday on two free throws by Mountie forward Larry Richard with six seconds left.

The shots gave Mt. SAC a three-point lead, and the Mounties then held off the Hornets, 52-50, in front of a crowd of 700 at Walnut.

With Cypress upsetting Cerritos Wednesday, Mt. SAC (13-3, 26-4) moved into a tie for first with Cerritos. The Mounties will play Cerritos Saturday night in a playoff game to determine which team will be the conference representative in the state tournament. The playoff site will be determined today.

The loser of that game will play host to the Shaughnessy playoffs, which begin Monday night. Fullerton (12-4, 18-11) will open against fourth-place Orange Coast.

Wednesday night’s game was typical of the competition between Fullerton and Mt. SAC. In the teams’ last 10 conference meetings, eight have been decided by three points or less.

Wednesday’s game, however, marked the first time in nine years that the Mounties managed to beat Fullerton twice in a season. The Hornets had won seven straight before Wednesday. Fullerton’s last loss had been, 48-46, to Mt. SAC.

Fullerton led 44-40 with 10:54 to play Wednesday, but then Hornets did not score for the next eight minutes. They recovered to score six points in the last 2:30. But in the meantime, Mt. SAC had claimed the lead for good with 3:13 remaining on two free throws by John Bragg that made it 45-44.

Fullerton had numerous chances to win in the final three minutes. The Hornets trailed 49-48 with 35 seconds to play and had possession of the ball after a timeout. After trying to get the ball inside without success, Fullerton settled for a 17-foot jump shot by Jon Samuelson with eight seconds left. But the ball bounced off the back of the rim and Richard came up with the rebound.

“Our three best shooters missed their last nine shots of the game and that was the difference,” said Fullerton Coach Roger See. “We had the chances, but just couldn’t get the ball in.”

Following Richard’s free throws, Hornet guard Jimmy Smith drove for a layup with one second, making it 51-50. Then Fullerton’s bench was charged with a technical foul for calling a timeout when the team had none left. Bragg hit the free throw for the final point of the game.

The Mounties were led by Richard with game-high 16 points and Paul Rameriz with 12. Smith led the Hornets with 14 and Paul Rollins added 12.

Hornet leading scorer Michael Long, who was in foul trouble beginning early in the first half, was limited to two 2 points.

FULLERTON (50)--Smith 14, Trueman 8, Long 2, Rollins 12, Samuelson 10, Pratt 2, Haymond 2.

MT. SAN ANTONIO (52)--Leonard 5, Tarkanian 6, Bailey 8, Rameriz 12, Richard 16, Bragg 5.

Halftime--26-25, Fullerton.

In other South Coast League action:

Cypress 61, Cerritos 57--Sophomore guard Ron Bailey had 18 points to lead the Chargers to an upset of host Cerritos. Freshman forward Paul Horn added 16 points and 11 rebounds for Cypress (8-8, 14-12) to give the Chargers the last available berth to the Shaughnessy playoffs. Cerritos (13-3,22-6) was led by Marlon Wadlington’s 18 points. Falcon guard Joe Yezbak, averaging 18 points a game, was limited to 11 points.

CYPRESS (143)--Bailey 18, Martineau 6, Kramer 5, Horn 16, Marusich 6, Gerlach 2, Buckner 2, Simmons 2, Swanner 3, Swenson 1.

CERRITOS (147)--Wadlington 18, Yezbak 11, Cleman 14, Heicke 2, Guy 2, Andrewsa 7, Buell 2, Miller 1.

Halftime 28-28.

Santa Ana 106, Golden West 99--The Dons (3-13, 10-19) finished their first sub-.500 season in 12 years with their highest scoring game of the season. Two Don sophomores, guard Scott Warner and forward Ryan Shaw, set career scoring records in their last community college appearance. Warner had 27 points, and Shaw had 26. Mike Love was the game-high scorer with 29 for the Rustlers (0-16, 7-22).

GOLDEN WEST (99)--Jeffers 11, Love 29, Smith 9, Debbs 17, Mann 16, Bruce 17.

SANTA ANA (106)--Streavel 3, Hughes 14, Warner 27, Escobedo 14, Shaw 26, McCall 14, Williams 4, Hata 2, Prange 2.

Halftime--Santa Ana, 44-40.