Press Does a Number on Cypress : Season finale: Chargers’ 27 turnovers mean loss to Long Beach. Eric Pauley finishes second on school’s all-time scoring list.
Cypress Coach Don Johnson knew it would happen.
He was aware his Cypress team’s inability to handle the press would eventually catch up with the Chargers, and it did in a big way Friday.
Long Beach forced 27 turnovers and blew out Cypress, 84-56, in a semifinal of the state community college basketball tournament Friday in front of about 1,250 in the Bren Center.
Cypress had pulled its third consecutive playoff upset the night before in defeating Columbia, 74-61, but when asked about Long Beach, Johnson expressed quick concern about Long Beach’s defense.
Johnson said the teams met over the summer several times and “they handled us pretty well.”
Cypress was only down, 43-37, at the half and started the second half with a flourish that included forward Brian Kenney’s first three-pointer of the season. Kenney was zero for nine before connecting to bring Cypress within one, 45-44, with 17 minutes 56 seconds left.
Kenney scored on a driving layup to put Cypress ahead, 48-47, with 16:01 to play, but that was the Chargers’ last lead of the season.
After that, things fell apart for Cypress (26-10).
Long Beach (32-4) held Cypress without another basket until Charles Lockard made one with 9:45 left. By then, the Vikings were up, 59-51.
Lockard’s short jumper turned out to be the final Cypress field goal. The Chargers were outscored, 41-19, in the second half and shot only 21% (six of 29).
“It was just pressure from all angles,” Johnson said. “Not just up the floor but in the passing lanes, off the boards and on the inbounds. You don’t want to cap a season with a game like that.”
It was also the end of the impressive career of forward Eric Pauley, who finished second on the all-time Cypress scoring list.
Pauley, a 6-foot-10 sophomore from Savanna High, finished with 1,088 points. Tyrone Branyan (1975-77) had 1,093.
Pauley has yet to pick a college but is being recruited by some 60 schools, including Kentucky and Kansas.
Pauley did set the career field-goal record with 445, one better than Branyan. He also ended with 201 blocks, good for second place on the all-time list behind Mark Eaton (213 in 1978-80). Eaton went on to play at UCLA and currently is with the NBA’s Utah Jazz.
Cypress was lucky to be down by only six in the first half considering its 14 turnovers.
Cypress had fallen behind quickly, 6-0, but rallied and led, 28-25, on a layup by Kenney with 5:15 left.
Kenney had 14 of Cypress’ first 28 points and finished the half with 16.
In fact, Pauley, Kenney and Lockard combined for 32 of Cypress’ 37 points in the first half.