SCC Continues Its Domination of CCI

With hopes of ending its history of futility in men’s basketball against Southern California College, Christ College Irvine pulled close to the Vanguards late in a Golden State Athletic Conference game Saturday at SCC.

Doug Grove’s three-point shot moved the Eagles, who had trailed by 13 points three minutes before, to within six points with 2 minutes 50 seconds remaining.

But the Vanguards, ranked 12th in the NAIA Division I poll, weren’t buying into CCI’s visions of an upset and turned two consecutive steals into the four points that all but assured an 84-73 victory.

SCC (14-4, 1-1 in the conference) has beaten Christ College (9-10, 1-2) the 11 times the teams have met. Earlier this season, the Vanguards defeated the Eagles, 63-54, in the championship game of Christ College’s tournament.

Greg Marshall, in his second season as CCI coach, was frustrated while watching his team late in the game.

“We had a lot of turnovers late,” Marshall said. “I think we tried to do the right thing. We just made a lot of poor decisions.”

Most of the errors were forced by an aggressive SCC defense. After cutting the Vanguard lead to six points with 2:50 left, CCI had the ball with a chance to make it closer. Edmond Johnson stole a CCI pass and hit Mike West downcourt for a layup. SCC’s Rick Witmer stole a pass on the Eagles’ next possession and Darrin Kramer followed with a basket that gave SCC an 80-70 lead.

CCI’s D’Andre Brown scored 25 points, including a three-point play that tied the score, 35-35, with 2:53 to go in the first half.

Witmer scored 21 points--including three first-half three-point shots--for the Vanguards.