COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Long Shots Spark Rancho Santiago to Victory

Rancho Santiago College took its offense outside to take a big early lead and ended up with a 96-77 victory over Saddleback Wednesday in an Orange Empire Conference basketball game.

Rancho Santiago made 10 three-pointers in the first half to build a 55-34 lead.

Saddleback made a charge in the second half but could get no close than 11 points, at 62-51, with 14:16 left to play. At that point, Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett asked for a timeout.

After the break, Pagett’s Dons went on a 12-2 run to take a 74-53 lead. Corie Blount had four points and John Guerrero had a three-pointer in the run. Saddleback was never closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

Rancho Santiago, the second-ranked team in the state, is 19-1 and 2-0 in conference play.

“Tonight I thought we played well in the first half like we did earlier in the season,” Pagett said. “We dropped down a little in the second half, though.”

Gene Altamirano (14 points) and John Guerrero (16) led Rancho Santiago’s three-point barrage with four each. Eric Kutas came off the bench to lend outside support as well with three. Alvin Loftis had the Dons’ other three-pointer.

The team was 10 of 12 in the first half and 12 of 20 in the game on three-point attempts. Saddleback extended its zone past the three-point line in the second half to cut down Rancho Santiago’s percentage.

Matt Lien, Rancho Santiago’s center, added 18 points.

Saddleback’s second-half rally was led by Terrell Malone and Greg Reynolds. Malone had 10 of his game-high 26 points in the second half before fouling out with 4:03 left. Reynolds scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half for Saddleback (7-12, 0-3).

Saddleback’s Charles Lockard, the team’s leading scorer, had eight points before leaving with the flu midway in the first half.

Golden West 95, Riverside 85 (OT)--Kevin Andersen scored six points in overtime to lead Golden West (15-7, 2-1) at Riverside. Alex Kreps led Golden West with 28 points, Andersen had 19, J.J. Jenkins 16 and Ric Van Scoyce 15. Andersen also had 16 rebounds. Riverside is 12-10, 1-2.

Cypress 82, Fullerton 61--Grayle Humphrey scored 17 points and had 10 assists for Cypress (17-3, 3-0) at Fullerton. Vince Hizon was four of five on three-point attempts and scored 20 points for Cypress. Andre Lamoureux added 15. Rashone Lewis scored 20 points to lead Fullerton (9-11, 0-2), and Darryl Griffin added 13.

In Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball:

Saddleback 62, Rancho Santiago 56--Tracy McKee and Amy Hellewell came off the bench to lead Saddleback (11-9, 2-1) at home. McKee scored a career-high 19 points and Hellewell had a team-high seven rebounds to go with 15 points. Saddleback was without leading scorer Kristen Okura, who injured her knee last Friday in a game against Riverside. She is expected to be out at least a week.

Carolyn Burns scored 19 points and had 19 rebounds for Rancho Santiago (5-9, 0-2).

Golden West 93, Riverside 79--Stacee Johnson scored 21 points to lead Golden West (22-1, 3-0) at home. Shawna Armstrong scored 18, Micki Hamilton 16 and Donna Gondringer 14 for Golden West.

The Rustlers led, 51-37, at the half. Riverside made six three-point shots to pull within six points, 77-71, with nine minutes left, but Golden West pulled away after that.

Fullerton 72, Cypress 13--Melody Mayfield had 14 points, Julie Hart 12 and Candi Burnett 10 to lead visiting Fullerton (9-10, 1-1). Cypress is 0-17, 0-3.