COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : No. 1 Rancho Santiago Makes Quick Work of L.A. Trade Tech

Rancho Santiago College blew out Los Angeles Trade Tech, 97-57, in the first round of the Rancho Santiago Holiday Tournament Thursday.

It was the second consecutive 40-point victory and the 13th overall for the Dons, but the competition should get harder from here on out. Rancho Santiago plays Santa Monica in one semifinal at 8 tonight.

Rancho Santiago (16-1) is the defending state champion and has been the top-ranked team all this season. Santa Monica (12-4) is ranked 13th.

Last year, Rancho Santiago won 17 consecutive games before falling to Santa Monica in the Holiday Tournament final. Santa Monica defeated Mt. San Antonio, 75-72, in the other first-round game Thursday.

Long Beach, the second-ranked team in the state, plays Los Angeles City at 6 tonight in the other semifinal. The championship game is scheduled at 8 p.m. Saturday.

L.A. Trade Tech (5-11) fell behind, 12-6, less than four minutes into the game and continued to lose ground after that.

The Dons’ lead went to 10 points at 9:30 in the first half and 21 points (48-27) on a dunk by Erik Martin with 1:08 left. Rancho Santiago scored six more points and led, 54-27, at the half.

Rancho Santiago went on a 9-0 run to open the second half and led, 63-27, with 16:11 left. At that point, Pagett pulled his starters, but things only got worse for L.A. Trade Tech as the reserves continued to roll.

Erik Martin scored 19 points and and Corie Blount finished with 17 for the Dons.

In another tournament game:

Los Angeles City 87, Saddleback 83--Saddleback held a 75-71 lead with 4:38 left but couldn’t hold on. Greg Reynolds made a three-pointer to cut the L.A. City lead to 85-83 with 10 seconds left, but the Gauchos were forced to foul. Shawn Hawthorne made both free throws for L.A. City to give the the Cubs an 87-83 lead with eight seconds left. Saddleback turned over the ball as time ran out.

Reynolds, who made five three-pointers, led Saddleback (7-7) with 20 points. Kenny Caesar had 19 and Matt Thompson 13 for the Gauchos, who play Skagit Valley of Washington today at 2 in one consolation semifinal.