COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Savanna’s Pauley Leads Cypress in Opener

Eric Pauley scored 10 points, had seven blocked shots and seven rebounds to help Cypress College to a 56-42 victory over New Mexico Military Thursday in the first round of the Cypress Thoroughbred tournament.

Pauley, a 6-foot-10, redshirt freshman from Savanna High School, had two key baskets in the final five minutes to help keep Cypress’ lead comfortable.

The exact time of the baskets was difficult to tell because the clock malfunctioned and lost minutes in both halfs. The problem was caught with 7:19 left in the game and time after that was added whenever the clock was stopped.

The Chargers (1-0) scored the first nine points of the game and led , 25-9, at the end of the first half.

New Mexico Military rallied in the second half and cut Cypress’ lead to 46-40 with about six minutes left.

But Pauley scored on a short jumper and then a dunk and Cypress led, 50-40.

A dunk by Andre Lamoureux made it, 52-40 with about two minutes left. Lamoureux added eight points and a game-high nine rebounds.

Cypress, which boasts one of the tallest teams in the state, also got six points out of Jim Waikle, a 7-foot-1, red-shirt freshman from Capistrano Valley High School.

Cypress plays Edwards Air Force Base at 8 p.m. tonight in one championship semifinal game. Ventura plays Glendale at 6 in the other semifinal game. The winners meet at 8 p.m. Saturday for the championship.