COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Evans’ Shot in Final Seconds Gets Golden West Past OCC

Greg Evans made a 10-foot shot with five seconds left to give Golden West an 80-78 victory over Orange Coast in an Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball game Saturday in Huntington Beach.

OCC was down, 67-50, with 12 minutes 40 seconds to go but rallied and tied it at 74 when Agustin Heredia made two free throws with 2:03 left.

The big play of the game came when OCC had the ball with about 1:40 remaining. The Pirates were setting up their offense, when forward Mark Moneypenny was called for an offensive foul away from the ball, sending Golden West’s Mark Johnson to the line.

OCC guard Jason Quinn was upset by the call but was kept away from the officials by teammates. When he went back to talk with team captain Heredia, he was called for a technical.

Johnson made both ends of the one-and-one, plus the two technical shots, and Golden West led, 78-74, with 1:33 left.

Heredia, who had a team-high 22 points, made one of two free throws with 52 seconds left and OCC’s Michael Wenzlaff made a three-pointer, his only basket of the game, with 34 seconds remaining to pull OCC even again, 78-78.

After a timeout, Golden West worked the ball around until Evans called for it with 14 seconds left. He dribbled five seconds, then started toward the basket to make the game-winning shot.

Johnson had a game-high 23 for Golden West (10-11, 1-0 in conference). Evans had 21, Matt Lundeen 14 and Paig Parish 12, all on three-pointers, before fouling out with 4:51 left.

Heredia had 22 points, Jeff Porter 21, and Moneypenny 14 for OCC (9-10, 1-1).

The game also marked the return of Scott Campbell to the Golden West team. Campbell was expected to miss the entire season because of an irregular heartbeat, but was cleared to play by his doctor two days ago.

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Rancho Santiago 69, Cypress 56--Host Rancho Santiago (14-6, 2-0) opened a 40-26 lead at the half. Rick Swanwick and Beau Hossler had 15 points each and Eric Dahl added 13 for Rancho Santiago. Sam Sabbara had 13 for Cypress (13-7, 0-2).

Saddleback 78, Fullerton 66--Ray Ankton had 19 points and Dee Boyer had 15 points and 12 rebounds for host Saddleback (10-8, 1-1). Garry Hunter had 16 for Fullerton (9-8, 1-1).