COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Golden West Wins 6th Straight State Water Polo Championship

Golden West captured its sixth consecutive State water polo championship Saturday, beating Long Beach, 10-6, in the finals of the State tournament at Long Beach Belmont Plaza.

The Rustlers (30-3) took an 8-1 lead and held on in the final two quarters to win. The victory was the Rustlers’ fourth in seven meetings with the Vikings.

After taking a 3-1 lead in the first quarter, Golden West outscored Long Beach, 4-0, in the second on goals by John Chomin, Tom Anderson, Matt Braun and Jason Young.

The lead grew early in the third quarter when Chomin added his second goal to make it 8-1.

The Rustlers struggled the rest of the quarter, allowing three goals by Jaime Ramirez that helped to pull the Vikings to only two goals down.

“We were a little flat,” Golden West Coach Ken Hamdorf said. “We went away from the basics. But when we got back to the basics we were OK.”

Long Beach pulled to within three in the fourth quarter on a goal by Stan Reyes with 2 minutes 13 seconds remaining.

But the Rustlers sealed the victory when Young stole the ball, setting up Braun for his third goal of the game with 15 seconds left.

Long Beach won, 11-9, in the Southern California tournament final Nov. 12 and topped the Rustlers, 13-12, in a South Coast Conference game Oct. 28.

Golden West beat the Vikings, 11-6, in the conference tournament championship game Nov. 5.

In the Rancho Santiago men’s basketball tournament:

Rancho Santiago 83, Yavapai (Ariz.) 61--Marlon Watson had 15 points and Nick Holt had 13 points as Rancho Santiago (3-0) won the championship game. Watson also had 10 rebounds and Nathan Small had 12 points.

Nate Scott led Yavapai (2-1) with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

In the Fullerton men’s basketball tournament:

Saddleback 78, Fullerton 75 (OT)--Frank Allen scored eight of Saddleback’s 15 overtime points to lead the Gauchos (4-0) in the championship game. Allen finished with 18 points and teammate Micah Kroeger scored 25 points.

In nonconference men’s basketball:

Irvine Valley 104, Pasadena 84--Freshman Keon Clark had 23 points and 24 rebounds and Josh Porter added 20 points to lead visiting Irvine Valley (3-1).

Golden West 91, Mesa 65--Rod Scheuerman had 18 points and Marquis Patterson had 10 assists for host Golden West (1-2).

At the women’s cross-country championships:

Irvine Valley women finish third--Mayra Medina ran a time of 18:42 to finish third over 5,000 meters at Fresno City College to lead Irvine Valley to a third-place finish.