COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Is a Picture of Balance

Rancho Santiago roared to the halfway point of the Orange Empire Conference race Wednesday with a 97-83 victory over visiting Fullerton that kept the Dons tied for first place.

Rancho Santiago once again displayed its balanced scoring as all five starters finished in double figures. J.J. Ballesteros led the way with 19 points. Ruben Oronoz scored 17, Fred Amos and Jason Janeski had 13 each and Beau Hossler 12.

Rancho Santiago (17-7) is 6-1 in conference play and tied with Saddleback, which defeated Irvine Valley, 92-84, Wednesday.

“Now we have to go get them in the second half (of conference),” Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett said. “You always hope to have the kind of first half we had. We’ve been fortunate because we won the close games.”

Half of Rancho Santiago’s conference victories have come by four points or less.

The Dons beat Irvine Valley, 86-82, on Jan. 6; beat Riverside, 107-105, in overtime on Jan. 8, and got past Orange Coast, 94-90, in overtime on Jan. 22.

Fullerton had a chance to make Wednesday’s game close as the Hornets cut their deficit to 59-53 when Eddie Cochran made a pair of free throws with 17:04 left. But Rancho Santiago went on a 7-0 run to pull ahead again by a comfortable margin.

Ballesteros started the run with a three-pointer. Following a Fullerton turnover, Ballesteros missed another try from three-point range but Oronoz got the rebound and made a layup. Ballesteros then finished the run with a layup.

Bobby Natoya had 27 points and Cochran 22 for Fullerton (13-12, 2-5).

In other men’s games:

Riverside 115, Orange Coast 70--Lou Williams set a Riverside single-game scoring record with 57 points for the host Tigers (19-7, 5-2). Williams, a sophomore guard, was 20 of 29 from the field, including five of seven from three-point range. He also made 12 of 14 free throws.

Jeff Porter had 22 points for Orange Coast (4-17, 1-6).

Saddleback 92, Irvine Valley 84--Antoine Jefferson tied a Saddleback single-game record with 23 rebounds for the Gauchos at Capistrano Valley High. Jefferson tied the mark set by Kevin Magee in 1980. Jefferson had 17 rebounds in the second half. John Molle scored 28 points--23 in the second half--for Saddleback (18-6, 6-1).

Chris Kostoff had 20 points and Paul LaMott added 15 for Irvine Valley (11-12, 2-5).

Cypress 72, Golden West 70--Cypress (19-7, 4-3) led by five points before Dave Dunham made a three-pointer as time ran out for host Golden West (9-15, 2-4). Cypress took the lead for good at 66-65 with 1:47 left when Jim Falletta made a pair of free throws. Robbie Shelton got a rebound and a basket with 1:09 left to give Cypress a 68-65 lead.

Shelton finished with 19 points for Cypress. Josh Lewis had 24 and Tyler Koon added 18 for Golden West.

In Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball:

Orange Coast 86, Riverside 46--Colleen Hatch had a season-high 27 points on 11-of-14 shooting as host Orange Coast (21-3, 5-1) ran over Riverside (17-9, 3-3). Orange Coast is ranked seventh in the state and Riverside is No. 13.

Golden West 58, Cypress 46--Cinnamon Basco and Melanie Iwamasa each scored 18 points for Golden West (26-2, 6-0), which posted its 16th consecutive victory. Tamika Harold led Cypress (10-12, 1-5) with 16 points. Golden West, ranked second in the state, holds a one-game lead over second-place Orange Coast at the end of the first half of conference play.

Fullerton 63, Rancho Santiago 35--Host Fullerton led, 35-24, at the half. Carrie Glodt finished with 14 points and Jennifer Little added 12 for Fullerton (14-11, 3-4). Rancho Santiago is 4-16 and 0-5.