COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Cypress Gets 500th Victory by Defeating Golden West

Cypress College had a comfortable lead, then survived a couple of scares to defeat Golden West, 75-69, in an Orange Empire Conference basketball game Saturday at Cypress.

It was the 500th victory in the 24-year history of Cypress’ program. Cypress has a record of 500-223.

The Chargers led at the half, 41-32, and increased their lead to 49-38 with about 15 minutes left.

But Golden West was able to cut the lead to 53-52 with 11:10 remaining despite playing only seven players because of illness.

But the Chargers then went on a 9-0 run to lead, 62-52.

“When were were up by 10 a second time I thought we were in pretty good shape,” Cypress Coach Don Johnson said. “But we took some poor shots and didn’t have the boards to back up the misses. When you’re up by that many points you need to work to take better shots.”

Golden West, which outrebounded Cypress, 42-39, drew close again when Ric Van Scoyce made a three-pointer, was fouled, and made the free throw to complete a rare four-point play, and cut the lead to 62-56 with 6:18 left. Van Scoyce added another basket a minute later and the lead dwindled to 64-61.

But Cypress’ Vince Hizon made a layup, and teammate Brian Kenney twice made some impressive moves to the basket for open layups and Cypress led, 70-64, with two minutes left.

Hizon led Cypress (16-3 overall, 2-0 in conference play) with 20 points. Kenney and Eric Pauley each added 12 for Cypress.

Golden West came into the game with a four-game winning streak but the Rustlers were without sophomore forward Kevin Andersen, who is averaging 13 points a game. He missed the game because of illness. Several Golden West players have been ill this week and Golden West Coach Jim Greenfield said he had only four players healthy enough to practice Friday.

Center Alex Kreps replaced Andersen in the lineup, playing almost 38 minutes, including all of the second half. He finished with a team-high 19 points and 12 rebounds. Craig Rice had 17 points and Van Scoyce had 14 for Golden West (14-7, 1-1).

Orange Coast 65, Fullerton 55--Alan Schlines scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds to lead host Orange Coast (12-5, 1-1). Chip Hanlon added 14 points and seven rebounds for OCC, which broke a four-game losing streak. Darryl Griffith had 14 points and Roy Joseph 12 for Fullerton (8-10, 0-2).

Riverside College 104, Saddleback 83--Xavier Edison scored 22 points off the bench to lead visiting Riverside. Corey Cothrine also came off the bench to score 16 for the Tigers (12-9, 1-1). Charles Lockard led Saddleback (7-11, 0-2) with 29 points and seven rebounds.