COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Pauley Stays Hot as Cypress Wins Golden West Title

Sophomore center Eric Pauley, a 6-foot-10 center, capped an impressive three-game run with 22 points to lead Cypress College to a 66-57 victory over Cerritos in the championship game of the Golden West basketball tournament Saturday.

Pauley, who was voted the tournament’s most valuable player, led Cypress in scoring in all three games. He had a career-high 26 points in Cypress’ 78-69 first-round victory over San Diego Mesa Wednesday and 23 in Friday’s 76-73 victory over Riverside.

Cypress held a 35-26 lead at the half, and Cerritos drew within seven, 37-30, early in the second half. From there, Cypress went on an 8-0 run, including five points from Pauley.

“If we are going to be a good team,” Cypress Coach Don Johnson said, “we need Eric to be a dominate player. Maybe he is starting to emerge as one. But this was a real team effort all around.”

Charles Lockard added 15 for Cypress and made the all-tournament team. Gary Gibbs, starting in place of Sam Sabbara, who twisted his ankle, added 11 and Scott Churchley had eight for the Chargers (7-3).

Entering the game, Cerritos (9-3) was averaging 88 points a game and had scored 109 in Friday’ semifinal-round victory over Golden West. Cerritos was held to 26 points in the first half and 54 for the game is the team’s season low.

In the third-place game:

Riverside 92, Golden West 87--Scott Campbell, Ric Van Scoyoc and Paig Parish each scored 21 points for Golden West (4-7).