COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Dons Upend Cypress, Solidify Lead

It’s too early to concede the Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball title to Rancho Santiago, but the Dons moved into prime position for its second consecutive championship with a 75-64 victory over host Cypress Wednesday night.

Rancho Santiago controlled the game early, taking a 33-27 lead at the half. But Cypress rallied in the second half and led, 50-47, on a three-point play by Bill Banks with 10:25 left.

Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett called timeout, and at a high decibel level he reminded his team of some basic principles.

“We had taken some hurried and bad shots,” Pagett said after the game. “We talked about shot selection and picking up the defense so they had to work for their shots.”

After the timeout, Beau Hossler scored on a back-door layup to cut the lead to one. Ruben Oronoz then scored Rancho Santiago’s next six points, the last of which put the Dons up, 55-54.

After Eric Dahl made a three-pointer and Fred Amos hit two free throws, Rancho Santiago led, 60-54, with 5:59 left. Cypress was no closer than six points the rest of the way.

The victory moves Rancho Santiago (19-7, 7-1 in conference play) two games in front of second-place Cypress (18-8, 5-3) with four games left to play. Rancho Santiago, which had beaten Cypress four consecutive times in the last two years, has the added advantage of playing three of its final four games at home.

Sophomore Glenn Greene scored 16, Hossler 13 and Rick Swanwick added 12 for Rancho Santiago, which plays host to Saddleback Saturday. Saddleback has beaten Rancho Santiago twice this season.

Amos had eight points and and a team-high eight rebounds and Swanwick had seven rebounds also for Rancho Santiago.

Anthony Livingston had 17 points and eight rebounds for Cypress. David Boyle added 12 points, and Banks and Sam Sabbara had nine points each despite both being in foul trouble most of the game.

In other conference games:

Orange Coast 84, Golden West 69--Sophomore Agustin Heredia scored a career-high 29 points as host Orange Coast (10-15, 2-6) stopped a six-game losing streak, its longest since 1983. Jeffery Porter added 25 points and 17 rebounds. Heredia and Porter were each 10 of 20 from the floor. Greg Evans had 20 for Golden West (12-15, 3-4).

Saddleback 79, Fullerton 76--Kenney Caesar made a three-pointer with 1:30 left to give visiting Saddleback (13-11, 4-4) a 78-75 lead. Fullerton’s Greg Bedford missed a chance to tie when his three-point try bounced away with five seconds left. Ray Ankton had 32 for Saddleback and Bob Terry had 33 for Fullerton (11-12, 3-5).

In Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball:

Saddleback 83, Fullerton 51--Erin Schimeneck had 16 points and eight rebounds and Shelley Calhoun had 15 points off the bench for host Saddleback (23-4, 6-1), which led, 43-21, at the half. Monique Grace had 18 points for Fullerton (10-12, 3-4).

Golden West 84, Orange Coast 70--Kim Kordick had 19 points and Jenny Sullivan added 17 as host Golden West (21-5, 5-1) remained 1/2-game behind first-place Saddleback. Colleen Hatch had 20 points and Stacey Giem added 19 for OCC (16-10, 3-4).

In the Cypress-Golden West Kiwanis baseball tournament:

Cypress 14, El Camino 4--Eric Nygard, Abijah Alastra, David Newhan and Greg Cole hit home runs for host Cypress (3-2) in the first-round game.