Community College Basketball : Dons Stop Wiley but Can’t Stop Compton, Lose 85-75

Dana Pagett, Rancho Santiago College’s men’s basketball coach, felt that if his Dons were going to beat Compton Saturday night, they would have to shut down Tartars’ center Andre Wiley.

After all, Wiley is Compton’s leading scorer in South Coast Conference play, averaging 19.6 points a game, and had scored 27 points when the Tartars beat the Dons earlier in the season.

So, while the Dons were busy double-teaming Wiley and keeping him away from the basket in the first half, Tartars’ guards Darnell Bullock and Chris Williams picked up the slack and led Compton to an 85-75 victory over the Dons at Rancho Santiago.

Bullock made his first five field-goal attempts of the game and Williams was 7 of 11 from the field in the first half as the Tartars jumped out to an 11-point lead with 4:36 left. Williams continued his impressive shooting in the second half, making 4-of-6 field-goal attempts to finish with a game-high 28 points. Bullock’s performance fell off in the second half as the sophomore was 1 for 8 in the final 20 minutes.

“Their guards shot much better than I had anticipated,” Pagett said. “We wanted to keep Wiley from scoring a lot, and we did a good job of that for about the first three quarters of the game, but Bullock and Williams shot the ball extremely well, especially in the first half.”

The Dons held Wiley to just five points in the first half and allowed him just one free throw through the first 9:42 of the second half before the freshman finally broke loose. Wiley scored 16 points in the final 10:18 of the game and finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds.

After falling behind by 11 again early in the second half, the Dons made a charge and closed to within one, 48-47, with 12:37 remaining. The Dons were plagued by some untimely turnovers, however, and Compton took advantage. The Tartars (6-5, 14-10) increased their lead to seven with 6:59 left and Rancho Santiago could never get any closer.

Mark Moses led the Dons (3-7, 15-10) with 21 points, Howard Cole had 16 points and 14 rebounds and Eric Schurman also added 16 points. Rancho Santiago’s Simon Thomas was 6 of 6 from the field in the second half and was 7 of 9 for the game and finished with 14 points.

COMPTON (85)--C. Williams 28, Robinson 14, Crawford 2, Wiley 22, Bullock 15, M. Williams 2, Henderson 2.

RANCHO SANTIAGO (75)--Moses 21, Thomas 14, Schurman 16, Martin 6, Cole 16, Elliott 2.

Halftime--Compton, 35-28.

In other South Coast Conference action:

Golden West 48, Mt. San Antonio 44--The Rustlers broke their 26-game SCC losing streak, which dated back to the last game of the 1984 season when they beat Cerritos. The win also snapped an 11-game Golden West losing streak this season.

Bryon Strachan led the Rustlers (1-10, 5-17) with 25 points and his back court teammate Scott Emerson added 11 points. Emerson gave Golden West a 45-42 lead with 32 seconds left when he made both ends of a one-and-one. Strachan then secured the victory by making both ends of another one-and-one with 19 seconds to play, making it 47-42. Mt. San Antonio is 7-4 and 17-7.

MT. SAN ANTONIO (44)--Dagampat 2, Frazier 5, Jarmon 8, Leonard 6, Jones 16, Draper 7.

GOLDEN WEST (48)--Emerson 11, Strachan 25, Debbs 4, Smith 7, Brown 1.

Halftime--Golden West, 20-16

Cerritos 66, Saddleback 57--The Falcons trailed by a point at the half, 31-30, but took the lead on a 12-foot jump shot by Marlon Wadlington (12 points) with 15:35 left and never trailed again. Center Tom Tolbert scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and teammate Willie Joseph added 16 points for the Falcons (10-1, 23-2). Sophomore guard James Taylor (12 points) and freshman forward David Miles (18 points) were the leading scorers for the Gauchos (4-7, 9-13).

CERRITOS (66)--Joseph 16, Wadlington 12, Hall 3, Miller 2, Andews 10, Heicke 5, Tolbert 18.

SADDLEBACK (57)--Desiano 6, Taylor 12, Dwinell 4, Minier 2, Miles 18, Sullivan 7, Lemon 8.

Halftime--Saddleback, 31-30

Fullerton 88, Orange Coast 82--Rocco Myers scored 26 points and Stevie Snow added 20 as the Hornets prevailed in a tight game at Fullerton. The win puts Fullerton (6-5, 12-12) in fourth place and keeps it in contention for a playoff spot. Orange Coast was led by Matt Judd’s 24 points. The Pirates fell to 2-8, 9-14.

ORANGE COAST (82)--Johnston 12, Judd 24, McGavran 10, Mulcahey 4, Andrasfay 8, Stamps 18, Seager 6.

FULLERTON (88)--Hakeman 2, Buda 9, Mansfield 5, Snow 20, Lewis 6, Myers 26, Moss 2, Fraser 16, Melton 2.

Halftime--Fullerton, 41-40