Community Colleges : Rancho Santiago Finally Finds Right Mix and Wins

Rancho Santiago College overcame a poor start and the outstanding play of Dareck Crane to defeat Orange Coast, 58-52, Wednesday in an Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball game at OCC.

Crane, a sophomore guard, scored a season-high 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting. He also had eight rebounds.

Rancho Santiago was able to offset Crane’s performance with the help of sophomore forward Tony Smalley and freshman center Matt Lien.

Smalley had a team-high 15 points, 11 in the second half. Lien had 10 points despite missing much of the second half after picking up his fourth foul with 18 minutes 9 seconds left in the game, and OCC leading, 31-25.

Lien returned with 9 minutes left. He had a dunk with 5:38 remaining to give Rancho Santiago a 50-45 lead. He had a free throw and a basket in the final minute to help Rancho Santiago hang on.

OCC raced to an 8-0 lead and led, 26-14, after a three-point play by Crane with 3:28 left in the half.

Crane then went to the bench to rest for the first time and Rancho Santiago outscored OCC, 9-3, to trail, 29-23, at the half.

Rancho Santiago started poorly, and 8 minutes into the game, Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett already had used 11 players.

“I was looking for someone that had a little fire,” Pagett said. “I kept searching and searching and we finally found them in the second half.”

The victory moved Rancho Santiago (16-10 overall, 6-4 in conference play) into sole possession of second place over Cypress (13-13, 5-4), which had a bye Wednesday.

OCC (19-9, 4-5) fell into a fourth-place tie with Golden West (19-9, 4-5).