Community College Basketball Roundup : SCC Goes Down to the Wire for 86-84 Victory

Southern California College defeated visiting Pacific Christian College Friday night in overtime, 86-84, in a game that could have been written for Hollywood.

SCC led most of the game, but had to struggle to force the overtime, and went down to the wire again. Trailing by 3 points with 3 seconds left, SCC got its last chance in regulation when Pacific Christian’s Steve Herd missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free-throw situation.

“I told Todd (Dixon, point guard) to penetrate the ball and to give it to whoever was behind the 3-point line,” SCC Coach Bill Reynolds said. “It didn’t happen that way.”

Dixon, in fact, never got the ball on that play. Jeff Bickmore passed to Jim Mansfield and with 1 second left and nowhere to move he shot from the hip just as the buzzer sounded. His 3-pointer went in, forcing overtime at 78-78.

With 20 seconds left in overtime, the score was tied at 84.

After a miss by Pacific Christian and a timeout by SCC, freshman Kevin Graddy took an inbound pass and went inside to score, again at the buzzer, to give the Vanguards (7-1) the victory.

“It was unbelievable to get two last shots with 1 second left, unbelievable,” PCC Coach Lee Erickson said.

Bickmore led all scorers with 26 points.