COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Reserves Get Cypress Past Riverside

Cypress College was forced to used its reserves more often than usual Saturday, but the Chargers still came away with a 68-63 victory over Riverside in an Orange Empire Conference basketball game Saturday at Riverside.

Grayle Humphrey of Cypress made both ends of a one-and-one with two seconds left to give the Chargers a 68-63 lead and clinch the victory.

Four seconds earlier, Humphrey was at the line and made the front end of a one-and-one to give Cypress a 66-63 lead. But he missed the second, and Riverside had a chance to tie.

But Riverside’s Deon Robinson, who rebounded Humphrey’s miss, threw a long pass over the head of Etienne Graves, and out of bounds.

Humphrey was then fouled as Cypress tried to inbound the ball and made both shots.

“This was a good one to get,” Cypress Coach Don Johnson said. “It’s so hard to win out here. Riverside plays very tough defense and it bothered us. . . . Our depth was the difference, we have developed an offense that goes nine or 10 deep and it paid off.”

Cypress starters Brian Kenney and Eric Pauley each had two fouls before the game was five minutes old.

Pauley didn’t play the final 12 minutes of the first half, but came back in the second half to score nine points and finish with 13.

Kenney had three fouls in the first half and fouled out with 6:47 left, scoring only two points.

Cypress got strong efforts off the bench from sophomores Andre Lamoureux, Nate Shea-han and Ian Donnelly, and freshman Mike Renaud.

Lamoureux scored a game-high 16 points, 14 in the first half, to help make up for Pauley’s early absence. Lamoureux also had a team-high nine rebounds.

Lamoureux and Shea-han also combined for a key basket to stop a Riverside rally midway in the second half.

Cypress led, 41-29, at the half but Riverside had pulled to within 50-45 with 9:58 to play.

Shea-han drove to the basket after taking a bounce pass from Lamoureux, scored and was fouled. He made the free throw and Cypress led, 53-45. Humphrey then stole the inbound pass and Cypress worked the ball back to Humphrey who made a three-pointer to give the Chargers a 56-45 lead.

Shea-han finished with six points and two rebounds.

“It was a great, great game for Nate,” Johnson said. “He’s probably our hardest worker. He’s out there early every day and never gets discouraged.”

Cypress is 19-3 overall and 5-0 in the conference. The victory sets up a first-place showdown with Rancho Santiago (23-1, 5-0) Wednesday night at Cypress.

Rancho Santiago 95, Orange Coast 63--Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett tied the school record for coaching victories by winning his 155th game against 74 losses in seven seasons. Roland Todd, who coached from 1975-1982, also was 155-74. John Guererro scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half, Matthew Lein had 11 of his 17 in the first half and Cory Blount scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half to lead Rancho Santiago (22-1 overall, 5-0 in conference). Orange Coast (12-8, 1-4) was led by Alan Schlines’ 17 points and nine rebounds.

Saddleback 84, Fullerton 83 (OT)--Fullerton’s Rashone Lewis sank a three-point shot with 10 seconds left to send game into overtime at 77-77. Saddleback (8-13, 1-4) scored the first seven points of overtime, capped by Greg Reynolds’ basket and free throw with 2:06 left. Fullerton (9-14, 0-5) scored the next six and could have won, but Roy Joseph’s three-point attempt fell short with three seconds left.