Altamirano Improves Shot by Taking Time Off

Gene Altamirano and the three-point shot have been pretty good company this season.

Earlier this month, Altamirano, a 6-foot-4 sophomore forward at Rancho Santiago College, set the single-season and career records from beyond the 19-9 line.

He had a better shooting percentage on three-point attempts than on two-point tries this season.

Things weren’t so good last season. Altamirano struggled with his shooting, especially from long range. He made only 31.4% of his three-point attempts and shot 40.4% overall.

“It just didn’t feel right,” said Altamirano, who averaged 11 1/2 points a game last season. “That was the worst season I’ve ever had. But with all the practice and games, I couldn’t take time to just sit down and take a long look at what I was doing wrong.”

Altamirano was coming back to basketball after taking a year off after graduating from Los Amigos High School. Summer break finally afforded Altamirano the time to take his faulty jump shot to shooting coach Des Flood, and the pair worked out the problem.

This season, Altamirano’s three-point shot has helped Rancho Santiago to a 27-3 record. The Dons open the Southern California regional playoffs against Los Angeles Harbor at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Rancho Santiago.

Twice this season, Altamirano made six three-pointers in a game, the latest against Saddleback in an 83-75 victory Feb. 3, to break the single-game and career school records. He set single-season records for shots and attempts while making 86 of 160 (53.8%) field goals. He also set career records (124-280) in the same categories.

Altamirano managed his record-setting performances despite opposing coaches’ strategies.

“All year I had people trying to deny me the ball and then flying at me once I had it,” Altamirano said. “I just had to work harder to get open for my shot.”

All this talk about the three-pointer might lead one to believe that Altamirano is a one-dimensional player. Actually, he is one of the best defensive players around. Last season, he was his team’s defensive player of the year.

“People have a tendency to look at his three-point shooting and focus on that,” Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett said. “But he plays the total game. He feeds into the post well, he runs well and always hustles. He a more complete player than people realize.”

Nice start: Fullerton’s 6-3 baseball victory over Golden West Saturday in the Orange Empire Conference opener was much more pleasant for Hornet Coach Nick Fuscardo than the last conference game his team played last May.

Fullerton was leading first-place Cypress, 4-1, going into the ninth inning. Fullerton could have played spoilers against Cypress, forcing a three-way tie for the conference championship with the victory. But Cypress rallied for five runs, including a game-winning two-run home run by Jason Friedman. The loss dropped Fullerton to 12-27.

With Saturday’s victory, Fullerton already is 9-2.

“It’s just a good feeling to know we are going to be more competitive,” Fuscardo said. “I knew we would be good and that’s a nice feeling after last season.”

Community College Notes

Orange Coast College’s softball team is off to an 8-1 start, led by four players batting .400 or better. Cathy Scanlan leads with a .484 (15 of 31) average, Kellie Newcombe is at .458 (11-24), Kristin Heizer is at .414 (12-29), and Wendy Robinson is at .400 (10-25). Heizer also is 8-0 as a pitcher. . . . Julie Ortman has resigned as the women’s volleyball coach at Fullerton to take the same job at Humboldt State. Ortman was 26-11 in two seasons at Fullerton.