State Community College Basketball Tournament : Saddleback Tops Rancho Santiago

It took four tries, but Saddleback did it.

In the teams’ fourth meeting this season, the Gauchos defeated Rancho Santiago, 55-52, Friday night in a semifinal of the state community college men’s basketball tournament at Loyola Marymount University.

Rancho Santiago had won the previous games by a total of eight points, 65-64, 65-60 and 49-47. Saddleback finished second to Rancho Santiago in the Orange Empire Conference.

The Gauchos (27-7) advance to the final against Ventura tonight at 8 p.m. The teams played in December in the final of the Riverside Tournament, Saddleback winning, 67-56.

“This is great,” said Saddleback center Scott Dwinell, who was involved in the two key plays. “Their cheerleaders were over there telling us that they had won the first three games, but we won the one that matters most.”

With 2:07 left to play and Saddleback leading, 50-49, Saddleback guard Renny Ingram tried to pass the ball to Dwinell, but Rancho Santiago center Brent Martin bumped Dwinell and intercepted the pass.

Martin was called for his fourth foul and slammed the ball into the ground in frustration. He was called for a technical foul--although he didn’t bounce it.

Dwinell made both ends of the one-and-one and Ingram made the technical foul shot and Saddleback led, 53-49.

Rancho Santiago’s Simon Thomas made a baseline jump shot with 1:32 left to cut the lead to 53-51.

The Gauchos’ Tom Desiano missed the front end of a one-and-one but Thomas missed a jumper and Vincent Smalls grabbed the rebound and threw an outlet pass to Desiano, who passed to Dwinell for a layup with 21 seconds left and a 55-51 lead.

“It wasn’t a matter of us doing too many things differently,” Bill Brumell, Saddleback College coach, said. “We just told the kids that it was going to be a matter of a big play going our way. . . .

“It was a shame that we had to come this far to have to play each other again this season.”

Saddleback opened a 27-25 lead at the half but without any points from Smalls, the Gauchos’ leading scorer this season. Smalls, who was averaging 16.5 points coming in, got two fouls in the first four minutes of the game and went to the bench. He was replaced by John Waikle, who scored 6 points in the next 10 minutes.

Smalls didn’t score his first points until the second half, when there was 16:45 left. He made a baseline 10-foot shot to give Saddleback a 33-27 lead. He was 5 of 5 from the field and finished with a team-high 11 points.

Desiano and Ingram scored 10 and Dwinell 7.

Smalls made two free throws with 13:33 left to give Saddleback a 40-33 lead with 13:33 left to play.

Chris Jackson scored 14 points and Chris Jefferson and Thomas 11 each for Rancho Santiago (29-5).

The Dons set a school record for victories this season and also had a school-record 18-game winning streak.

In the other semifinal game:

Ventura 111, San Joaquin Delta 75--The Pirates (30-4) advanced to the final with an easy victory over the state’s top-ranked team.

Ventura led 49-41 at the half as Maurice Pullman scored 20 of his 29 points. He was 6 of 9 on three-point baskets in the half and 8 of 9 in the game.

It was Ventura’s first appearence in the final since 1952, when the Pirates defeated College of the Sequoias to win the first state title.