COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Barely Keeps Its Streak Alive

Corie Blount rebounded teammate Erik Martin’s missed free throw and scored with two seconds left to give Rancho Santiago College a 106-105 overtime victory over Cypress in an Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball game in front of about 1,500 Saturday in Santa Ana.

Blount’s heroics prevented Cypress from pulling off a stunning upset of the first-place Dons (25-1, 7-0 in conference), the top-ranked team in the state.

Cypress’ Flip Banks (18 points) made a basket with 16 seconds left in regulation to tie the score, 88-88. A 10-foot jumper by the Dons’ LaVern Broadnax rolled off the rim and out of bounds as time ran out in regulation.

Cypress twice led by four points in overtime, but the score was tied, 100-100, when Rancho Santiago’s Glenn Greene made one of two free throws with 1 minute 14 seconds left. Greene could have prevented the overtime but missed two free throws with 32 seconds left in regulation and Rancho Santiago leading, 88-86.

Cypress’ Charles Lockard worked his way free and made a three-pointer off an assist by Eric Pauley to give Cypress a 103-100 lead with 46 seconds left. But Broadnax came back with a three-pointer to tie it with 33 seconds left.

Cypress then worked a back-door play. Brian Kenney missed the open layup, but Pauley (18 points) followed with a powerful dunk to give the Chargers a 105-103 lead with 14 seconds left.

Rancho Santiago got the ball to Martin low, and as he went up for the dunk with five seconds left, he was fouled by Pauley, who got all ball with his hands but was called for body contact.

Cypress called a timeout. With much of the crowd on its feet and screaming, Martin made the first free throw. His second attempt hit the front of the rim, but the ball came back low and under Pauley, who had jumped for the rebound.

Blount grabbed the ball, set, then made a four-footer that kept Rancho Santiago in first place and improved the Dons’ school-record winning streak to 22 games.

“I was saying to myself that if he missed it, I was going to tip it in,” said Blount, a sophomore center. “But it just came back long. I didn’t even know I set before I shot until the guys told me. I thought I just went right back up with it.”

Martin, who had 32 points the first time the teams met earlier this season, had 29 Saturday. Blount finished with 22.

“I’m sure some of the fans will tell you that this was the best game they ever saw,” Cypress Coach Don Johnson said. “. . . One of the cardinal sins is you have to block out on rebounds and we didn’t.”

Lockard led Cypress (18-9, 5-2) with 23 points, including four three-pointers. He and Sam Sabbara each made a trio of three-pointers in the second half as Cypress rallied to erase Rancho Santiago’s 40-34 lead.

“We were lucky to win,” Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett said. “It was two very good teams playing hard.”

In other games:

Golden West 83, Orange Coast 63--Eric Van Scoyoc scored 17 points and Scott Campbell, Tom Dever and Jason Vaughan each scored 16 for host Golden West (11-14, 3-4). Agustin Heredia scored 18 for Orange Coast (11-13, 2-5).

Saddleback 84, Fullerton 71--Host Saddleback (13-10, 4-3) used a 12-0 run midway through the first half to turn a 23-21 deficit to a 33-23 lead. Ray Ankton scored six of Saddleback’s points during that stretch on the way to a game-high 19 points. Kenny Cross and Bob Terry each scored 17 points for Fullerton (12-13, 1-6).