COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Cypress Men Roll Past Golden West

With a small but concerned group of outsiders among 200 spectators in the Golden West College gym Wednesday, Cypress defeated the Rustlers, 80-57, in an Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball game.

The group--the Rancho Santiago team and coaching staff--was looking for some help from Golden West in the conference race.

Cypress had defeated Rancho Santiago, 75-60, last Wednesday to take a one-game lead over the Dons.

Rancho Santiago had a bye Wednesday, so all it could do was watch as Cypress (22-3, 8-0 in conference) increased the advantage to 1 1/2 games over Rancho Santiago and three over third-place Golden West (18-9, 5-3).

Rancho Santiago was hopeful because Cypress had struggled to defeated the Rustlers, 75-69, in the first meeting despite the absence of Golden West starters J.J. Jenkins and Kevin Andersen.

Healthy this time, Golden West was expected to give Cypress a tough game.

But Cypress led, 36-29, then went on a 23-8 run to make it 59-37 with 9:28 left. Eric Pauley scored all eight of his points, consecutively, during the run.

“I’m very surprised,” Cypress Coach Don Johnson said. “Assistant Paul Bottiaux made a timely observation, and we made a little defensive adjustment in the second half that really helped.”

Johnson offered no other details, hinting that it might be used again.

Vince Hizon scored 14, Brian Kenney 13, Grayle Humphrey 12 and Mike Renaud 11 for Cypress, which has won nine in a row. Alex Kreps scored 15, and Andersen and Van Scoyce had 13 each for Golden West.