COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Long Shots Spark Rancho Santiago

Sophomore Gene Altamirano scored 22 points, including six three-point baskets, to lead Rancho Santiago College to an 87-67 victory over Fullerton in an Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball game Wednesday at Rancho Santiago.

Altamirano, a 6-foot-4 guard from Los Amigos High School, scored three of his three-pointers and had 11 points in each half.

Fullerton took a 13-9 lead on a layup by Mike Keith with 14:12 left in the first half. After that, it was pretty much all Rancho Santiago.

The Dons went on a 18-0 run in the next five minutes and led, 27-13, after a three-pointer by Mike Hunter. Rancho Santiago led, 41-26, at the half and Fullerton never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way.

“I thought we played pretty well tonight,” Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett said. “We had some good spurts in there.”

Alvin Loftis scored 16, Matt Lien 14 and Corie Blount had 10 for Rancho Santiago.

Altamirano was seven of 10 from the field overall, including six of seven on three-point attempts, and also led the Dons with six rebounds. He has made 57% (64 of 112) of his three-point attempts this season.

Rashone Lewis scored 20 and Keith 13 for Fullerton (9-13, 0-4). Lewis led Fullerton with nine rebounds.

Rancho Santiago (21-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play) moves into a first-place tie with Cypress (18-3, 4-0) which was idle Wednesday.

Rancho Santiago plays at Orange Coast Saturday, and Cypress will play at Riverside. Rancho Santiago, ranked second in the state, plays at sixth-ranked Cypress next Wednesday.

In other Orange Empire Conference men’s games:

Golden West 95, Saddleback 86--Visiting Golden West broke open a close game with a 23-8 run midway through the second half. Saddleback led, 39-38, at the half, but Golden West took a 57-55 lead with 10:54 left in the game.

From there, Golden West started its run and led, 80-63, seven minutes later.

Sophomores Craig Rice and J.J Jenkins sparked the run for Golden West (16-8, 3-2). Rice, a guard, scored eight consecutive points and Jenkins, a forward, added seven points.

Jenkins led Golden West with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Ric Van Scoyce added 21 and eight assists, Rice had 18 points, Jason Vaughan had 12 and Kevin Andersen 10.

Charles Lockard had 16 points, Bill Schellenberg 15, Terrell Malone 14, and Greg Reynolds and Matt Thompson 12 each for Saddleback (7-14, 0-4).

Riverside 67, Orange Coast 37--Orange Coast turned the ball over a season-high 26 times and scored a season low 37 points in the loss at home. OCC, which dropped to 12-7 and 1-3, shot 33% (13 of 39) for the game.

Paul Kos was the only OCC scorer in double figures with 12. Deon Robinson scored 13 points to lead Riverside (14-10, 3-2), which made half of its 54 shots from the floor.

In Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball:

Golden West 95, Saddleback 42--Sophomore forward Donna Gondringer scored 23 points and had 14 rebounds to lead first-place Golden West (24-1, 5-0) at home. Stacee Johnson added 17 points and 14 rebounds for Golden West. Bits Sirchia had 10 points for Golden West, which led, 43-21, at the half. Saddleback is 11-10, 2-2.

Orange Coast 71, Riverside 65--Cindy Kollar scored 18 points and Kami Bigler added 14 for visiting Orange Coast (19-4, 3-1).

Fullerton 77, Rancho Santiago 42--Angie Nelsen had 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead Fullerton (11-10, 3-1), and Gina Krouse had 15 points. Charisse Simon had 16 points for Rancho Santiago (5-11, 0-4).