Community College Basketball : Cypress Beats OCC’s Slowdown, 40-34

Orange Coast College tried a slowdown offense in an effort to upset Cypress Saturday night, but the Chargers were still able to take a 40-34 victory in an Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball game at Cypress.

OCC’s offensive plan, to pass the ball around until there were 15 seconds left on the 45-second shot clock, would have been more effective had the Pirates shot better. OCC was 4 of 13 from the field in the first half and 10 of 33 for the game.

“Our game plan worked; we just didn’t shoot worth a darn,” said Tandy Gillis, OCC coach.

Cypress led, 16-13, at halftime, and the tempo increased from a stall to a crawl in the second half. Cypress led by 10 twice, but OCC cut the lead to 38-34 with 1:08 left and had the ball.

But Jeff Green of Cypress made a steal and passed to Jim Sammon, who made a layup to give Cypress a 40-34 lead with 38 seconds left.

Sammon scored 13 and Kris Brodowski 12 for Cypress (24-5, 6-0), which is first in the conference and ranked fourth in the state. David Miles led OCC with 17 points.

“We were expecting some kind of a slowdown, so it didn’t surprise us,” Cypress Coach Don Johnson said. “Tandy Gillis is a fine coach and he prepared his team well. We are happy to have this one behind us.”

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Rancho Santiago 88, Riverside 80--Alonzo Jamison scored 28 points and Kenny Ammann 27 for visiting Rancho Santiago (20-6, 5-1).

Saddleback 68, Citrus 63 (3 OT)--Renny Ingram scored all eight of his and his team’s points in the third overtime. Vincent Smalls had 30 points for Saddleback (16-8, 4-2).

In a South Coast Conference game:

Long Beach 77, Fullerton 74--Fullerton missed a chance to tie with five seconds left when Kevin Jones’ three-pointer bounced off the rim. Troy Joseph scored 28 points for Fullerton (16-10, 6-4). Long Beach is 17-11 and 5-5.