Community College Roundup : Sammon Leads Cypress, 88-78

Sophomore guard Jim Sammon scored 23 points, 20 in the second half, to lead Cypress College to an 88-78 victory over Rancho Santiago Saturday in an Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball game at Cypress.

Cypress was most impressive at the free-throw line, making 31 of 40 for the game and 18 of 22 in the second half. Sammon was 10 of 11 and teammate Greg Spruell 8 of 8 for the game. Sammon connected on both ends of three one-and-ones in the final minute.

Kenny Ammann was 6 of 6 from the free-throw line, but Rancho Santiago (18-6, 2-1) still finished only 9 of 18 from the line. Ammann had a game-high 28 points, 23 of which were in the second half.

Alonzo Jamison added 23 points and Tony Smalley 15 for Rancho Santiago, but each was 1 of 5 from the free-throw line.

John Jackson and Kris Brodowski scored 18 each for Cypress (20-5, 3-0) which is in a first-place conference tie with Saddleback. The teams play Wednesday at Cypress.

In another Orange Empire Conference game:

Saddleback 58, Orange Coast 41--The Gauchos (15-6, 3-0) won their ninth straight game, led by forward Vincent Smalls with 15 points. After OCC (13-12, 0-3) tied the score at 14-14 with 10 minutes to play in the first half, Saddleback went on a 16-3 run to build a 30-17 halftime lead. Center John Waikle and guard Joe Hudson added 10 points each for Saddleback. Dareck Crane scored 16 for OCC.

In the South Coast Conference:

Golden West 76, Long Beach College 75--Markus Muller-Stach scored with one second remaining to give host Golden West the victory. Muller-Stach led the Rustlers (12-10, 2-4) with 27 points. Teammates Elbert Davis, Anthony Howard and Jim Stewart scored 14 points each.

Fullerton 66, Mt. San Antonio 60--Troy Joseph scored a game-high 28 points for Fullerton (14-8, 4-2) which won at Mt. San Antonio. Joseph was 10 of 18 from the field and 8 of 11 on free throws. It was the fourth consecutive victory for Fullerton.