COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Dahl’s Overtime Burst Saves Rancho Santiago

Eric Dahl, largely inconspicuous for the first 40 minutes, was the difference in the final five as Rancho Santiago defeated Riverside, 96-92, in overtime in an Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball game Saturday at Rancho Santiago.

Riverside, playing without its two leading scorers, rallied from as many as 11 points down in the second half to force the overtime, but the Tigers had little left by then.

Dahl, a sophomore guard who played at Riverside last season, scored eight of Rancho Santiago’s 12 points in overtime and finished with 13. He had made only three of 13 shots in regulation.

The key play came with Rancho Santiago leading, 91-90. Dahl went in for a layup with one minute four seconds left in overtime, but Riverside’s James Washington wrapped him up before the shot and was called for an intentional foul.

The whistle, although legitimate, seemed out of place considering several no-calls earlier in the game.

Dahl made both free throws to put the Dons ahead, 93-90. Rancho Santiago’s chance to capitalize on the intentional foul went awry when Glenn Greene missed two free throws with 44 seconds left.

Greene made 11 of 17 free throws in the game, but Rancho Santiago made 23 of 42 as a team. The Dons made only three of 10 free throws in overtime.

The victory keeps Rancho Santiago (18-7, 6-1 in the conference) alone in first place. The Dons play at Cypress, which is a game back, Wednesday.

Riverside’s effort was tremendous considering the Tigers were without forwards Geoff Gorham (21.5 points a game) and Fred Haygood (17.6). Gorham broke his foot two weeks in a game and Haygood collapsed due to dehydration after Wednesday’s loss to Fullerton.

Daniel Lyton scored a game-high 32 points and Lou Williams had 31 for the Tigers (17-11, 3-4). Greene, Beau Hossler and Rick Swanwick had 19 each for Rancho Santiago. Fred Amos had only two points but grabbed 13 rebounds for Rancho Santiago.

In other conference games:

Cypress 81, Fullerton 80--Anthony Livingston made a three-pointer with eight seconds left to give visiting Cypress an 81-80 lead. Fullerton had two chances in the final five seconds but missed both. David Boyle had 23 for Cypress (18-7, 5-2). Garry Hunter had 18 for Fullerton (11-11, 3-4).

Saddleback 68, Orange Coast 65--Ray Ankton had 20 points and Dee Boyer had 15 points and nine rebounds for host Saddleback (12-11, 3-4). Jeffrey Porter and Agustin Heredia each had 20 points and Mark Moneypenny had 15 for OCC (9-15, 1-6).