COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Cypress, Hizon Don’t Come Up Short in Final

Cypress College is called the tallest community college team in the state.

The Chargers have a 7-foot-1 player, another at 7 feet, and two at 6-10.

Lately, though, it has been Cypress’ smaller players who have made the biggest contributions.

Such was the case Saturday when forward Vince Hizon, a mere 6-1, scored 22 points to help the Chargers roll past El Camino, 70-49, in the championship game of the Cypress tournament.

Hizon had 17 points in the first half and Cypress opened a 39-17 lead. He had 10 of the Chargers’ first 14 points.

El Camino had a difficult time finding Hizon, let alone stopping him.

Hizon, a sophomore from Mater Dei High School, made three shots from less than five feet, and added three three-pointers.

Hizon, who had 15 points and nine rebounds in Cypress’ 98-75 victory over Compton Friday was named the tournament’s most valuable player.

“I was just taking what the defense would give me,” he said. “We’ve been working all week in practice on me moving more without the ball.”

Cypress led by 20 points most of the second half, but El Camino rallied to cut it to 10 with 1:05 left. After a timeout, Cypress returned four of its starters.

The Charger starters pushed the lead back to 20 with accurate free-throw shooting.

Cypress got a basket with 3:12 left on a three-pointer from Grayle Humphrey. Cypress didn’t get another basket until Mike Renaud made a layup with 25 seconds left.

The Chargers made 15 of 17 free-throw attempts, including 11 in a row in the final three minutes.

Cypress was 21 of 25 from the line for the game and 42 of 53 on free-throw attempts in the tournament. Saturday, Brian Kenney was six of eight, Renaud was six of seven and Hizon and Humphrey were four of four each.

Humphrey’s four free throws extended his Cypress record to 33 in a row. He passed Hizon’s mark of 27 Friday.

Humphrey finished with 13 points. Kenney added 12 and Renaud 10, including the last eight of the game.

Forward Andre Lamoureux had eight points and center Eric Pauley didn’t score. He had three early fouls and didn’t play much in the first half.

In nonconference women’s basketball:

Saddleback 61, Palomar 38--Freshman forward Shannon Garnos had 21 points and freshman center Kristen Okura had 18 and had nine rebounds for visiting Saddleback (8-8).