Community College Basketball : Cypress Upsets Rancho Santiago

The torrid pace that Rancho Santiago College has been setting the past two months came to an abrupt halt Saturday night as Cypress upset the Dons, 87-75, in an Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball game at Cypress.

The loss broke Rancho Santiago’s school-record 18-game winning streak and leaves the Dons (7-1, 24-4) a game ahead of Saddleback with two left in the conference race.

Before Saturday, Rancho Santiago’s last loss was to Fullerton, 80-75, Dec. 5 in the Grossmont Tournament.

The Dons are the top-ranked team in Southern California and third in the state.

The victory keeps Cypress (5-3, 17-12) in third place, a game ahead of Citrus (4-4). The top three finishers in the conference earn automatic berths to the state playoffs.

Cypress led, 35-33, at halftime and never trailed in the second half as sophomore Andy Olivarez became the center of the offense. Olivarez, who is averaging 21 points a game, scored a game-high 27, 19 in the second half. Olivarez also had a game-high 10 rebounds.

Cypres made 35 of 41 free throws in the game, 23 of 26 in the second half. Eric Krivashei made 9 of 11 as he scored a career-high 17 points. He made both ends of four one-and-one situations in the final three minutes to help prevent a Rancho Santiago comeback.

Saddleback 60, Orange Coast 45--Tom Desiano scored 14 points and Vincent Smalls added 10 to lead the Gauchos to the victory at Saddleback College.

In the South Coast Conference:

Mt. San Antonio 77, Fullerton 76--Kevin Patrick missed a 15-foot jump shot at the buzzer as the Hornets lost at Fullerton. James Jones scored 28 points and Cletus Jarmon added 16 for Mt. SAC (3-9, 10-17).

Long Beach City 91, Golden West 76--Chris McMichael scored 15 points and had 15 rebounds off the bench as the Vikings (7-5, 15-13) defeated Golden West (4-21, 0-12) at Long Beach.