Community College Basketball : Johnson Gets 400th Win at Cypress

As far as things of beauty go, Cypress College’s 80-68 South Coast Conference men’s basketball victory over host Golden West wasn’t much. In a sloppy game that featured very little defense and 33 turnovers, there wasn’t much for Cypress Coach Don Johnson to smile about.

Nevertheless, that’s exactly what he was doing after the Chargers gave him his 400th victory at the school. In the midst of his 19th season at Cypress, Johnson has compiled a record of 400-166. Included among those wins are two state championships and five conference titles.

“That’s 400 agonizing wins,” said Johnson, who was an honorable mention All-American under John Wooden at UCLA in his playing days. “I really can’t recall who we played in the first one back in 1966. We’d have to check the record books on that one.”

This one wasn’t likely to be a game that will remain etched in his memory, either. At least not like his 100th win, a 96-86 victory over the UCLA junior varsity in 1973, or No. 200, a 78-75 decision over Santa Barbara City College in the 1977 state final, or No. 300, a 74-66 victory over a tough Oxnard team in 1980.

A crowd of 150, including former Johnson pupils Swen Nater and Tyrone Branyan, watched as the Chargers (4-1 in conference play and 14-5 overall) struggled to put away a poor Golden West contingent (0-6, 4-13). The loss was the Rustlers’ 22nd straight in SCC play.

The man mainly responsible for keeping Golden West in the game was guard Bryon Strachan. The 6-foot 2-inch, 170-pounder from St. John Bosco High School scored 31 points. He made 12 of his 21 field goal attempts and 7 of 8 from the free throw line.

The Chargers made 30 of 48 shots from the field, including 14 of 18 in the second half.

CYPRESS (80)--Dobbs 13, Martineau 16, Horn 15, Swanner 16, Livesay 8, Gerlach 8, Kramer 2, Olivarez 2.

GOLDEN WEST (68)--Strachan 31, Emerson 6, Smith 4, Debbs 13, Utu 8, Brown 4, Makoutz 2.

Halftime--Cypress, 41-31