COMMUNITY COLLEGE STATE BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Rancho Santiago’s Pressure Provides Heat to Fuel Victory

Rancho Santiago College’s pressure defense, well-known around Southern California, got some statewide recognition Thursday.

The Dons forced 25 turnovers and defeated American River, 86-66, in the quarterfinals of the state tournament in front of 500 at UC Irvine’s Bren Center.

American River had only eight turnovers in the first half, but Rancho Santiago led, 42-38.

American River was sloppy in the second half. Guard Brian Jang had an especially tough time with seven turnovers. He had nine in the game.

Randy Morphew’s basket for American River about a minute into the second half cut the lead to 42-40, but Rancho Santiago took off from there.

Morphew, who scored a game-high 27, got his fourth foul, diving for a loose ball, with 15:13 left.

Although he returned three minutes later, Rancho Santiago took advantage of his absence for a 11-0 run to lead, 62-45.

American River could only get as close as 10 points the rest of the way.

Rancho Santiago will play El Camino at 8 tonight in one semifinal.

Chabot plays Merced in the other semifinal at 6 p.m.

Rancho Santiago was led by center Matt Lien, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, and forward Corie Blount, a 6-9 freshman.

Lien scored 25 points and had eight rebounds, both team highs. Blount had 20 points, six rebounds and four steals.

“We had to work hard to get open because of their zone,” said Lien, who has signed to attend California. “It was our defense that made our offense go. We didn’t have any special plan. We just played hard at both ends like we have all year.”

Lien was nine of 14 from the field and Blount was eight of 10. Both were three inches taller than any of American River’s starters.

Sophomore Gene Altamirano was the only other Rancho Santiago player in double figures with 14. Altamirano, a 56% shooter from the field this season, was five of 14, including four of 12 on three-pointers. He missed his five shots in the second half.

“For us to beat good teams we have to get big games from Matt, Corie and Gene,” Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett said. “They are our all-conference players and they came through. But we had several people play well tonight.”

Vern Broadnax, a freshman point guard, had only four points but added eight assists and three steals for Rancho Santiago.

The victory gives the Dons (30-3) their first 30-victory season in the history of the program, which started in 1921.

Rancho Santiago’s most victories prior to this season came in 1986-87 when the Dons were 29-5 and lost to Saddleback in the semifinals.

In the other quarterfinals:

El Camino 97, West Valley 90--El Camino (24-10) started the playoffs as the 23rd-seeded team in the south and has reached the semifinals with four consecutive upsets. West Valley ends 29-3.

Larry Lockley led El Camino with 21 points, Jamal Ross had 19 and David Keeter 18. Wiley Thomas had 23 for West Valley.

Chabot 90, Moorpark 79--Tony Amundsen scored 29 points on nine-of-13 shooting to lead Chabot (25-7).

Scott Kelly added 21 and Darin Amin 20 for Chabot, which led at the half, 36-32.

Sam Crawford had 26 for Moorpark (24-11).

Merced 73, Imperial Valley 70--O.J. Bonner blocked a shot with 37 seconds left and made two free throws two seconds later to give Merced (23-10) a 73-70 lead. Imperial Valley (32-2) missed three three-pointers in the final 10 seconds.