Orange County Community College Basketball : Saddleback’s Finish Beats Cypress

Saddleback College took advantage of a dry spell by Cypress late in the game to beat the Chargers, 67-56, in an Orange Empire Conference game at Mission Viejo Wednesday night.

Neither team was able to establish much of an advantage for the first 32 minutes.

When Cypress tied the score, 47-47, on a rebound basket by forward Kris Brodowski, it was the sixth and last time the score was tied. The teams were tied at halftime, 28-28.

But Cypress didn’t score for the next five minutes, and Saddleback was able to build a 58-47 lead.

“I just thought we forced too many shots,” said Don Johnson, Cypress coach.

Cypress shot 37% (19 of 51) from the field and were 5 of 20 on three-point shots.

Cypress scored its first field goal, a layup by center Dave Kirksey, with 13:56 left in the first half.

Cypress’ Andy Olivarez, who led the conference with a 28.3 a game scoring average, was held to 13 points.

He was 4 of 17 from the field, including 3 of 13 from three-point range. He came in shooting 50% (32 of 64) on three-point attempts.

Saddleback forward Vincent Smalls and guard Tom Desiano were finally able to establish some semblance of an offense for the Gauchos in the second half.

Smalls scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the second half. He also had a game-high 14 rebounds, including 9 offensive rebounds.

Smalls frustrated the Charger defense in the second half. Cypress couldn’t stop the ball from being passed low to Smalls much of the time.

The few times the Chargers did shut off Smalls with a double-team, center Scott Dwinell was able take advantage and scored 12 points.

Desiano scored 18, 10 in the second half. He was 8 of 8 from the free-throw line and made both ends of two one-and-one chances in the final two minutes.

“We told them they were getting beat on the boards at halftime,” said Bill Brummel, Saddleback coach. “I though we just had to play a little tougher in the second half and it showed.”

Saddleback outrebounded Cypress, 16-11, in the first half and 37-19 for the game.

Saddleback (3-1, 18-5) shot 48% (24 of 50) from the field and 3 of 6 from the three-point area.

The victory keeps Saddleback in second place, one game behind Rancho Santiago. The teams play Saturday night at Saddleback at 7:30.

Orange Coast 74, Riverside 60--Chuck McGavran scored 15 points, including four three-point shots, to lead the Pirates (2-2, 20-5) at Riverside. Riverside (0-4, 12-16) was led by Mike Stewart’s game-high 24 points.

Rancho Santiago 95, Citrus 85--Simon Thomas scored 23 points and Chris Jefferson 21 to lead the Dons (4-0, 21-3) at Citrus. Citrus (1-3, 12-10) was led by Kevin Kurtz’ game-high 31 points.

In women’s games:

Cypress 103, Saddleback 46--Pam Fritsch scored 25 points and had 10 rebounds to lead Chargers (4-0, 15-7) at Cypress. The Chargers are averaging 95 points a game in the Orange Empire Conference. Saddleback is 0-4 and 9-10.

Riverside 71, Orange Coast 64--Guard Adrienne Drake scored 27 points to lead Riverside (4-0, 15-6) at Orange Coast. Lisa Schumaker scored 20 points and had 9 rebounds for Orange Coast (2-2, 12-13).

Fullerton 59, Cerritos 54--Stacy Rooney and Rochell Seabrook each scored 17 points and Lynn Leguax scored 12 to lead the Hornets (5-2, 15-8) at Fullerton. Cerritos is 5-2 and 19-4.

Citrus 77, Rancho Santiago 60--Robyn Eater scored 27 points to lead Citrus (2-2, 9-11) at Rancho Santiago. Holly Wood scored 19 for Rancho Santiago (0-4, 10-12).

Golden West 99, Compton 79--Jeannine Battaglia scored 23 points and Jane Utu and Karen Chase added 20 each to lead the Rustlers (7-0, 24-1) to the win at home.