COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Rolls Past Golden West

Corie Blount had 21 points on 9 of 12 shooting from the field to lead Rancho Santiago College to a 90-79 victory over Golden West in an Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball league game Wednesday night at Rancho Santiago.

Rancho Santiago pulled away after leading only 44-42 at the half.

Matthew Lien had 20 points and nine rebounds for the Dons, who improved to 25-2 overall and 8-1 in the conference.

Golden West’s Ric Van Scoyce had 30 points to lead all scorers and was 11 for 11 at the free-throw line. The Pirates are 19-10, 6-4.

In other Orange Empire Conference men’s games:

Fullerton 99, Riverside 79--Rashone Lewis and Kenny Cross combined for 53 points and Fullerton broke open a close game at Fullerton with a 17-5 run to open the second half. Lewis, the conference’s leading scorer, led all players with 29 points, seven above his average. Cross scored 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, and Roy Joseph added 15 for the Hornets, hitting five of five three-point shots. The Hornets (11-16, 2-7) led, 46-40, at the half, before pulling ahead, 63-45, six minutes into the second half. Deon Robinson led Riverside (15-14, 4-6) with 17 points.

Cypress 57, Orange Coast 48--Grayle Humphrey scored 13 points to lead Cypress (24-3, 10-0) at Orange Coast. Orange Coast scored the first six points of the second half to take a 29-26 lead, but Cypress took control midway through the half and never trailed again. Humphrey scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half. Vince Hizon added 10 points for the Chargers. Chip Hanlon scored 16 points to lead Orange Coast (13-11, 2-7).

In Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball:

Orange Coast 64, Cypress 11--All 10 players scored for Orange Coast, which improved to 23-5 and 7-2. Heidi Hasemann and Kami Bigler each had 10 points and Claudia Aguirre had 12 rebounds and blocked seven shots for the Pirates. Cypress fell to 0-24, 0-10.

Fullerton 54, Riverside 52--Fullerton (14-12, 6-3) squandered a big lead and was outscored 29-18 in the second half, but hung on to win. Candy Burnett and Angie Nelson each had 12 points and Vickie Evans had 10 points and 12 rebounds for visiting Fullerton. Riverside is 17-12 and 4-6.

In the Cypress baseball tournament:

MiraCosta 7, Cypress 6--MiraCosta (2-2) scored two runs in the top of the ninth to break a 5-5 tie, then held on for the victory in a first-round game at Cypress. The Chargers (4-1) had the tying run on third with two outs in the ninth, but MiraCosta second baseman Bill McElroy made a diving stop of a grounder by Doug McConathy to end the game. MiraCosta’s Carlos Castillo pitched a complete game, striking out 12.