COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Hangs Tough to Beat MiraCosta for Tournament Title

Rancho Santiago showed its tough side Friday in beating MiraCosta, 77-74, in the title game of the Rancho Santiago Holiday men’s basketball tournament.

The physical game featured six technical fouls (three by each team), an ejection and late rally by MiraCosta (13-2).

The loss stopped MiraCosta’s nine-game winning streak.

Rancho Santiago dominated the first half and led, 42-33, at the break. MiraCosta got close then fell back for much of the second half until MiraCosta’s Jesus Galindo made a three-pointer to cut the Rancho Santiago lead to 76-74 with 1 minute 17 seconds left.

Each team turned over the ball on its next possession but Marcus Lemons of Rancho Santiago was fouled with 19 seconds left. He made the first free throw but missed the second and MiraCosta got the rebound.

After a timeout, the Spartans worked the ball around and Galindo, who had five three-pointers, missed one off the front of the rim as time ran out.

“That’s a good team,” Rancho Santiago Coach Ray Rodriguez said. “We’re thrilled to be going into conference with three wins in a row.”

Lemons had 21 points and Chris Rose, the tournament’s most valuable player, added 17 and nine rebounds.

In the third-place game:

Saddleback 97, Rio Hondo 73--Saddleback (12-3) trailed, 41-39, at the half but used a 20-1 run early in the second half to pull away. Anthony Carter had 19 points and 10 assists and Roderick Beavers had 18 points for Saddleback. Darren Crooks came off the bench to score 12 points, all in the second half for Saddleback.