COMMUNITY COLLEGE REGIONAL MEN’S BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Cypress’ Don Johnson Savors His 500th Victory as Oxnard Falls

Even the ever-frowning Don Johnson stepped back and smiled as the final 15 seconds ticked off in his 500th coaching victory, a 61-48 triumph over Oxnard in the second round of the Southern California playoffs Wednesday.

Even Johnson, who calls himself the eternal pessimist, was able to enjoy the historic moment.

With about 30 seconds left and the victory safely in hand, most of the crowd of about 600 started to chant “500, 500, 500, 500 . . .”

Johnson broke into a grin as he walked behind his bench and looked at the crowd across the court. Johnson’s 23-year coaching record is 500-208. He is also only the second men’s coach to win 500 games in California. Gene Victor compiled a 500-328 in 28 seasons at Mt. San Antonio before retiring in 1987.

“I enjoyed about the last minute and a half of the game,” Johnson said. “It feels good, and this feeling is going to last a little longer than the normal 20 minutes until I start to worry about the next game. It will last 30 minutes, maybe.”

Johnson’s next game will be at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday against El Camino in the third round of the playoffs. El Camino upset Los Angeles City, 97-90, Wednesday. Cypress defeated El Camino, 70-49, Dec. 23.

Against Cypress, Oxnard came out in a slow-down offense that the Condors use to work the ball around for 25 seconds then attack the inside of the extended Cypress defense. The plan worked as Oxnard led, 18-15, with 3:35 left in the first half. Cypress (28-3) then outscored Oxnard, 7-0, the rest of the half and led, 22-18, at halftime.

In the second half, Oxnard cut the lead to 22-21 early but Cypress went on a 9-0 run for a 31-21 lead. Cypress led by as many as 13 before Oxnard cut the lead to five, 43-38, with 5:40 left. But Cypress again was able to pull away.

Freshman forward Brain Kenney led Cypress with 17 points on seven-of-10 shooting.

“I’ve been working on my jumper,” Kenney said. “I’ve been shooting more and they (the coaches) haven’t said anything so I just kept it up.”

Vince Hizon, a sophomore forward, added 15 and Andre Lamoureux had 14. Freshman center Eric Pauley had nine points but added 13 rebounds and eight blocked shots.

Pauley also had a key assist. With a 43-38 lead, Cypress worked the ball to a double-teammed Pauley at the top of the key who passed under the basket to Ian Donnelly who made an easy layup and Cypress led, 45-38.

Joe Daughrity had 15 points for Oxnard (17-15).

In another playoff game:

Golden West 84, Los Angeles Valley 80--Ric Van Scoyce scored eight of Golden West’s 10 points in a late run that gave Golden West a 77-70 lead with 1:20 left to play. Van Scoyce led Golden West (23-11) with a game-high 27 points.

Valley rallied and cut the lead to 82-80 with 29 seconds left but Tom Dever made both ends of a one-and one to clinch the victory.

Golden West, a 97-90 winner over Pasadena Saturday in the first round, advances to the third round on Saturday. The Rustlers play host to Moorpark in a 7:30 p.m. game. The winner advances to the final eight at UC Irvine, March 8-10.

Golden West had split two meetings with Valley earlier this season.

“We’ve played these guys about eight times in the last three years and it’s been a son-of-a-gun every single game,” Golden West Coach Jim Greenfield said. “But this great. We have chance to go to state.”