COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Drops Another Game

The teams are starting to spread things out a bit in the Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball race, and it’s not going the right direction for Rancho Santiago.

The Dons, two-time defending conference champions, were tied for the lead at the halfway point but have since lost twice--including a 100-93 loss at Riverside Wednesday--and are two games back in the standings.

Saddleback holds a one-game lead over Riverside (21-7, 7-2 in conference) and Rancho Santiago (17-9, 6-3) fell into a third-place tie with Cypress with five games left.

Cypress is at Rancho Santiago in a 7 p.m. game Friday.

Riverside’s Darryle Flicking and Lou Williams, the top scorers in the conference, spent much of Wednesday night racing behind the Rancho Santiago defense on fastbreaks.

Flicking had 36 points on 11-of-17 shooting and Williams added 29, including 12 of 13 free-throw attempts.

“They took advantage of their speed and quickness,” Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett said. “They did a great job.”

Riverside led, 53-48, at the half, but Rancho Santiago played well early in the second half and built a 65-62 lead on a three-pointer by Ruben Oronoz with 15 minutes 10 seconds left.

Rancho Santiago’s final lead was 69-68 with 12:23 left.

Williams hit a three-pointer to put Riverside ahead, 71-69, and then Flicking scored four consecutive points to put the Tigers up 75-69.

After a timeout, Rancho Santiago committed a turnover and Riverside went on an 8-2 run, forcing Pagett to signal for another timeout.

Rancho Santiago stayed close much of the game thanks to the impressive play of Jason Janeski. The sophomore forward made 16 of 20 shots from the field and finished with a career-high 33 points.

Beau Hossler added 18 points and Oronoz 16 for Rancho Santiago.

It was the first time in eight games that Riverside Coach Bob Schermerhorn had beaten Rancho Santiago.

In other men’s games:

Cypress 72, Fullerton 66--Robbie Shelton led Cypress (21-7, 6-3) to its third consecutive victory by scoring 21 points and pulling down 20 rebounds. Edward Cochran had 22 points for Fullerton (13-14, 2-7).

Saddleback 66, Orange Coast 50--John Molle had 21 points and Kevin Frioka 18 for visiting Saddleback (20-6, 8-1), which led by seven at halftime. Jeff Porter had 14 points and Darren Crooks 13 for Orange Coast (4-19, 1-8).

Orange Empire women’s game:

Orange Coast 55, Saddleback 53--Ricarda Kuypers made a short jumper and Collen Hatch, who had a game-high 19 points, also scored inside to give Orange Coast (26-3, 7-1) a 55-50 lead with 30 seconds left.