COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEN’S REGIONAL BASKETBALL : Rancho Santiago’s Season Ends With Loss to Cerritos

Rancho Santiago College flashed its best form Saturday, but not for long enough, and the Dons were defeated by Cerritos, 87-76, in the regional final at Cerritos.

Rancho Santiago’s best moments came early in the second half after Cerritos (30-4), the No. 3-seeded team in Southern California, had used an 8-0 run to open a 44-28 lead with 17 minutes 51 seconds left.

But over about the next five minutes, Rancho Santiago, the two-time defending State champion, played as well as it has all season in going on a 16-0 run.

It started with the defense of freshman center Fred Amos, who blocked two shots and had six rebounds during the run.

The offensive chores were handled mostly by freshman forward Ruben Oronoz and sophomore guard Eric Dahl. Each had a pair of three-pointers and Glenn Greene added a running one-handed jumper. J.J. Ballesteros tied it, 44-44, on a driving layup with 12:49 left in the game.

But Cerritos recovered to score seven straight points to take a 51-44 lead.

But Rancho Santiago came back with an 8-0 run and lead, 52-51, on a basket by Rick Swanwick with 10:15 left.

But Cerritos, which won the state title in 1989, ruled the rest of the way.

The key basket for the Falcons came on a desperation three-pointer by Jeff Polloreno with 7:40 left. Cerritos had five seconds left on the shot clock when Polloreno caught an inbound pass. He at first didn’t realize time was running out but then did and shot from about 26-feet, making it and giving the Falcons a 61-52 lead.

Rancho Santiago was as close as seven when Daryl Cole made three free throws with 1:07 left, but the Dons got no closer.

“We played in streaks again,” Pagett said. “We got ourselves too far behind. What it came down to was they had too much fire power on the outside for us.”

Polloreno had a team-high 24 points and Bill Mazurie, a sophomore from Capistrano Valley High School, had 17, including 11 in the second half. Cerritos advances to the state tournament starting Thursday in San Jose.

Oronoz finished with 26 points including six three-pointer. He became the first Rancho Santiago player to score more than 20 points since late December. Dahl had 15 for Rancho Santiago (23-10), the sixth-seeded team in Southern California.

In another regional game:

Ventura 86, Saddleback 72--Host Ventura (32-4) won its 17th in a row, moving into the state tournament. It’s Ventura’s first appearance in final eight since 1987 when the Pirates beat Saddleback for the state title.

Ventura, which is 15-0 at home this season, put it together for all but the final eight minutes against ninth-seeded Saddleback (18-13). The Pirates shot 52% from the field, forced 22 Saddleback turnovers, and out-rebounded the Gauchos, 39-32.

Ventura’s bench outscored Saddleback’s substitutes, 30-13. Ventura, getting 12 points and eight rebounds from Michael Tate, rolled to a 47-34 halftime lead and then blew the game open early in the second half, forcing Saddleback to miss nine of its first 10 shots of the half.

Jody Smith had a game-high 19 points for Saddleback and Dee Boyer added 16 points and eight rebounds.

Long Beach defeated Imperial Valley, 77-67, and Compton beat College of the Canyons, 101-100, also to advance to the final eight from Southern California.