Community College Basketball Playoffs : Rancho Santiago Shows No Signs of Rust While Crushing Citrus, 73-58

Rancho Santiago College, coming off a 10-day layoff, seemed as consistent as ever, scoring an easy 73-58 victory over Citrus Saturday in the first round of the Southern California men’s basketball regional playoffs at Rancho Santiago in front of about 300.

The Dons, who finished second in the Orange Empire Conference, hadn’t played since Feb. 15.

“I wasn’t worried about the time off,” Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett said. “We have had 10 days off the last two years and still played well in playoffs.”

Rancho Santiago reached the state semifinals in 1987 and reached the regional finals last season.

The Dons controlled the tempo early Saturday and led, 38-18, at the half.

The lead remained between 12 and 20 in the second half as Rancho Santiago’s strong outside defense didn’t allow Citrus many open shots. With the outside blocked off, Citrus moved the ball inside to Marcell Driver. Driver, a 6-foot-7 forward, scored a game-high 32 points for the Owls but wasn’t a real factor because of the score. He was averaging a state-leading 27 points a game coming into the game.

“Part of it was us, we didn’t play that well at times,” Citrus Coach Neil Edwards said. “But part of it was their good pressure defense. They forced us to make a lot of mistakes.”

Rancho Santiago counted Driver with the strong play of center Matt Lien and guard Gene Altamirano.

Lien scored 20 points, including Rancho Santiago’s first eight. He was eight of 14 from the field and tied with Chris Martin and Tony Smalley for a team-high in rebounds with seven.

Altamirano added 18 points for the Dons (19-10), including seven of seven free throws in the second half as Citrus tried to rally.

Citrus managed a slight rally in the first 5 minutes of the second half. The Owls went on a 10-2 run to cut the lead to 40-28. But Rancho Santiago’s Alan Loftis had a basket, Mike Oden scored a basket and made two free throws and Rancho Santiago was never threatened again.

“I told them they would come out and make a serious run at us,” Pagett said. “We seemed to adjust pretty well and did a good job in the half keeping the lead around 12.”

Dion Talbert had 12 points to be the only other Citrus player in doubles figures. Lien and Altamirano were the Rancho Santiago players in double figures.

Rancho Santiago, the only one of five Orange County teams to win in the playoffs Saturday, advance to play Ventura in the second round Wednesday at Ventura.

In other first-round games:

Glendale 94, Golden West 88 (2 OT)--Glendale outscored Golden West, 13-7, in the second overtime to win at Golden West. Glendale’s Bruce Heicke made two free throws with 4 seconds left to tie it, 75-75, at the end of regulation. Markus Muller-Stach led Golden West with 25 points, Alex Kreps had 21 and Elbert Davis 14. Golden West ends the season, 20-12. Glendale (19-11) advances to play at El Camino Wednesday.

Oxnard 71, Cypress 60--Oxnard went on a 9-0 run to break a 47-47 tie with 11:53 to play, holding Cypress scoreless for more than 4 minutes for the victory at Santa Clara High School. Vince Hizon scored 23 points--making eight of 13 shots from the field and seven of seven from the foul line--to lead Cypress, which finishes, 13-17.

Mike Price led Oxnard (20-11) with 21 points and teammate Randy Carter added 19 points. The game was tied, 30-30, at halftime.

Los Angeles Harbor 77, Orange Coast 71--Keith Billingslea scored 32 points to lead L.A. Harbor (16-14) at OCC. OCC led, 36-35, at the half but faded down the stretch. Dareck Crane scored 24, Derek Johnson 16 and Alan Schlines 12 for OCC. Schlines also had 13 rebounds. OCC ends the season 20-12. Harbor advances to play Santa Monica Tuesday at Santa Monica.

Pasadena 80, Fullerton 78--Fullerton rallied in the second half after trailing, 39-28, at the half but fell short. Mark Rudometkin scored 16 and Kelli McKinney 12 for Fullerton, which ends the season 20-11. Pasadena (19-9) plays at Imperial Valley Wednesday.