COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Cypress Holds On to Championship

Cypress College overcame its own adversity Saturday to defeat Rancho Santiago, 68-64, and clinch the Orange Empire Conference title outright in front of 1,700 at Rancho Santiago.

Cypress seemed to have the game won with four seconds left. The Chargers had the ball and a 67-64 lead. But sophomore Vince Hizon was called for five seconds trying to inbound the ball, and the possession went to Rancho Santiago under its basket.

The Dons struggled to get the ball in, and Cameron Terry’s eventual pass was long, forcing Gene Altamirano to step out of bounds to catch it, giving the ball back to Cypress. The Chargers inbounded the ball to Eric Pauly, who was fouled with one second left. He made the first shot to give Cypress a 68-64 lead, but missed the second and time ran out.

It was the second time in three seasons that Cypress (27-3 overall, 12-0 in conference), the top-ranked team in Southern California and second in the state, has won the Orange Empire Conference title.

Rancho Santiago, ranked third in Southern California and fourth in the state, ends the regular season 27-3, 10-2.

Cypress led at the half, 29-22, but Rancho Santiago got some unexpected help in coming back.

With his team trailing, 33-29, Alvin Loftis drove to the basket and Cypress’ Nate Shea-han was called for blocking with 17:19 left.

Cypress Coach Don Johnson was called for a technical as he walked onto the court to protest the call.

Loftis was fouled in the act of shooting and made both free throws. Altamirano made both technical foul shots and the score was tied, 33-33. Altamirano added a layup and Rancho Santiago led, 35-33. It was the first time the Dons led since the score was 14-12 early in the first half.

Cypress regained the lead and pushed it to 41-37, but Johnson was again called for a technical foul. Altamirano again made both free throws, and Terry followed with a three-pointer to give Rancho Santiago a 42-41 lead with 11:59 left.

“You know how bad I would have felt if we’d lost that game,” Johnson said. “That was the first time I’d been called (for a technical) in two seasons. The second one was a mistake. I was yelling at my own player and the referee thought I was yelling at him.”

Cypress went ahead, 63-62, on two free throws by Brian Kenney with 2:23 left.

Neither team scored again until Grayle Humphrey made a 15-foot baseline jumper with 42 seconds left to extend Cypress’ lead to 65-62. Hizon made both ends of a one-and-one with 17 seconds left to make it 67-62.

Hizon had a team-high 16 points. Pauly had 11, eight in the second half, and Kennedy and Humphrey had 10 each. Altamirano led Rancho Santiago with 21 and Corie Blount added 16.

Orange Coast College 81, Saddleback 76--Chip Hanlon scored 22, Scott DeStefano 21 and Alan Schlines had 12 points and 12 rebounds for host Orange Coast (9-19, 2-10). Charles Lockard had 18 points for Saddleback (14-13, 2-10).

Golden West 84, Fullerton 81--Alex Kreps scored 22 points and Ric Van Scoyce added 15 for Golden West (21-10, 8-4). Rashone Lewis scored 25 for Fullerton (11-19, 2-10).