Community College Notebook : Cypress’ Sammon Proves His Point : Ex-El Dorado Scoring Star Enjoying Assist Leader Role

Jim Sammon no longer attracts the kind of attention for scoring as he did at El Dorado High School when as senior in 1985-86 he was second in Orange County with a 26.9 per game average.

Now, as a sophomore guard for the Cypress College, he is better known for his passing.

Sammon is currently third on the Cypress all-time assist list with 248. He is expected to become the school’s record holder by the season’s end.

Mark Campanaro (1972-74) holds the record with 286 and Dave Baker (1977-79) is second with 251.

Sammon should overtake Baker next week when Cypress resumes play in the Palomar tournament, Dec. 28-30. The Chargers (12-3) are taking a week off because of the holiday.

Sammon has 78 assists in 15 games this season (5.2 average). He had 160 assists in 33 games last season (4.8).

“I never thought I got the credit I deserved in high school for being an unselfish player,” said Sammon, who was a Times’ All-County selection as a senior. “I was always proud of my passing ability, but everyone else was always more interested in how many points I scored. If you score a lot of points that doesn’t always mean you had a good game.”

Said Don Johnson, Cypress coach: “Jim is a very unselfish player. We could see that in him when he came out of high school. He is also a very good athlete.”

Sammon, also a talented tennis player, was the most valuable player on the Cypress team last spring.

Sammon averaged 3.4 assists as a high school senior but most of the assists came from Eric Glade, who averaged 8.6. His forte then was scoring.

And he still can score--Sammon had a career-high 30 points in Cypress’ 107-102 double overtime victory against Washington Clark last Saturday in the Cypress tournament.

Last season, Sammon had plenty of reason to play the role of unselfish guard. He was teamed in the backcourt with Andy Olivarez, who led the Orange Empire Conference in scoring (22.2). Olivarez is currently playing for USC.

But this season, Sammon is being encouraged to have more games such as the one against Clark.

“We are going to make some changes to get Jim (Sammon) more into the offense,” Johnson said. “He will still get his assists, but he also needs to score for us to be successful. We just need to make some adjustments to make him more active.”

Author! Author! Bill Cunerty, Saddleback golf coach, came up with a way to solve the problem of his golf classes needing a textbook.

He wrote and published one.

Cunerty’s book is entitled “Sequential Golf” and deals with the history of the game as well as the the fundamentals.

The book takes players from basic swing to playing the game on the course and also deals with the sport’s mental aspects.

Cunerty also is the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach for the Saddleback football team.

Almost 100. Dana Pagett, the Rancho Santiago College men’s basketball coach, goes for career victory No. 100 when his Dons play the Tustin Marine team tonight at 7:30 at Rancho Santiago.

Rancho Santiago is 10-4.

Pagett took over at Rancho Santiago in 1982 and is in his sixth season with a record of 99-74.

Pagett’s best season was last season, when Rancho Santiago finished 29-5 and won the Orange Empire Conference championship.

Rancho Santiago advanced to the semifinals of the state tournament where it was eliminated by Saddleback.

Welcome to Consolation County. When Cypress defeated Washington Clark, 107-102, in double overtime Saturday in the consolation championship of the Cypress men’s tournament, it was the fourth tournament consolation championship won by an Orange County team that day.

Saddleback defeated San Bernardino Valley, 65-34, to win the Riverside tournament’s consolation final.

Golden West defeated Porterville, 81-79, in double overtime to win the College of the Sequoias consolation final.

And Orange Coast defeated West Los Angeles, 74-72, in overtime to win the Glendale tournament’s consolation final.

The Golden West women’s team was the only local team not playing in the losers’ bracket this past weekend. Golden West defeated Cuesta, 92-61, to win the Cuesta tournament title.

Hey, I know you. When Cal Poly Pomona plays at Biola Jan. 2, there will be a reunion of four of the five starters on the 1985 Cypress basketball team that finished 24-6.

Jeff Martineau, Paul Horn and Scott Swanner all start for Biola and Bill Dobbs starts for Pomona.

Greg Marusich, the other starter on that Cypress team, plays for Southern Utah, a team Biola (10-0) has played this season.

Community College Notes

Running back Bart Recktenwald was voted the most valuable player of the Orange Coast football team, and linebacker Martin Maslonka won the Bill Jenkins Memorial award that is given to the hardest hitting defensive player. Blake Adams, who signed with the University of the Pacific last week, was voted OCC’s student athlete of the year. . . Center Vince Bonham was voted the most valuable player of the Golden West football team, and linebacker Trent Brummett was voted the defensive player of the year. . . . Sophomore Lisa Johnson was voted the most valuable player of the Cypress volleyball team. . . . John Gilyard was picked as the most valuable player on the Cypress soccer team. . . . Setter Kristi Moothart was voted the most valuable player of the Orange Coast volleyball team.