Community College Basketball : Careless Saddleback Still Beats Fullerton

Renny Ingram scored a career-high 18 points and Scott Dwinell scored a career-high 14 to lead Saddleback College to a 75-61 victory over Fullerton Sunday night in the opening round of the Rancho Santiago Holiday Tournament at Santa Ana.

Ingram, a freshman guard from Dominguez High School, scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half as the Gauchos (12-3) outscored the Hornets in the last 10 minutes to take a 41-25 halftime lead.

The Gauchos struggled at the start of the second half, turning the ball over on five of their first seven possessions.

But the Hornets couldn’t close the gap and never drew closer than 12 points, 60-48, which came with 6:42 to play.

Saddleback turned the ball over 16 times in the second half and 22 times in the game.

“It wasn’t their (Fullerton’s) press that forced us to turn the ball over,” said Bill Brummel, Saddleback College coach. “We were just careless and made too many errors.”

Dwinell, a 6-foot 9-inch center, wasn’t an important part of the offense for much of the first half because of fouls. He was called for his third with close to five minutes to go in the half and went to the bench with two points.

In the second half, he was 5 of 6 from the field, including a 19-foot shot from the top of the key for his final basket.

Vincent Smalls (14 points), Tom Manily (10) and Tom Desiano (11) led Saddleback.

Fullerton, which played without freshman Troy Joseph, who was sick, was led by Alan Fraser’s 16 points. Jim Mansfield (10 points) was the only other Fullerton player in double figures.

The victory was the ninth straight for Saddleback, which plays Santa Monica at 6 tonight in a semifinal.

Fullerton plays Los Angeles Trade Tech in a consolation semifinal at 4 p.m.

In the San Diego Mesa Tournament:

Orange Coast 66, Bakersfield 57--Chuck McGavran scored 17 points, including four three-point shots, to lead the Pirates (14-3) in a first-round game.

Rob Mase added 12 for Orange Coast, and Matt Judd and Mike Kelly each had 11.

In the Palomar Tournament:

Citrus 78, Cypress 72--The Owls (8-6) made seven three-point shots in the second half to overcome a 36-26 halftime to defeat the Chargers (9-8) in a semifinal game. Rob Arnett, whose layup with 55 seconds left gave Citrus the lead for good at 74-72, paced the Owls with 18 points. Cypress’ Jim Sammon led all scorers with 19.

In women’s basketball:

Golden West 72, Northern Idaho 70--The Rustlers (15-0) overcame an early 10-point deficit to win the first-round game and remain undefeated. Forward April Marion led Golden West with 27 points.