Saddleback Wins Familiar Tournament

Bill Brummel, Saddleback men’s basketball coach, talked about the familiar feeling of being in the championship game of the Rancho Santiago Holiday tournament.

Sunday was the fourth time in six years that his team had made it to the tournament finals.

After the game, he talked about the equally familiar feeling of winning the tournament as Saddleback rallied from a 12-point halftime deficit to beat host Rancho Santiago, 72-67.

It’s the fourth time the Gauchos (9-6) have won the tournament title in six years.

“There aren’t a lot of traditions in [community college] ball,” Brummel said before the game. “But for us this tournament is kind of a nice one.”

Saddleback’s charge was led by sophomores Michael Riggins, Sean Morris and Scott Duffy. Morris had 11 of his team-high 19 points in the second half.

Also in that half, Riggins had 10 of his 13 points and Duffy, the tournament’s most valuable player, had eight of his 15 before fouling out with 3 minutes 18 seconds left. Morris and Riggins made the all-tournament team.

Riggins, a point guard, had the key basket. With five seconds left on the shot clock, he drove the baseline and made a reverse layup to put Saddleback ahead, 68-62, with 2:02 left in the game and one second on the shot clock.

Rancho Santiago (10-5) was done in by a long slump in the second half slump. The Dons played a sharp first half and led, 43-31. Mark Saukkola had four three-pointers in the first half. He was limited to one three-pointer in the second half, but finished with a team-high 19 points.

Andres Nieto made two free throws to put Rancho Santiago ahead, 57-52, with 9:04 left but Saddleback then went on a 14-0 run. The scoring streak ended with Rancho Santiago’s Lohnnie Tape making a three-pointer to cut the lead to 66-60 with 3:40 left.

Rancho Santiago missed three three-point attempts in the final 30 seconds before Saddleback’s Brian Scoggin got a tip-in basket with one second left to give Saddleback a 72-67 lead.

In the consolation championship of the San Diego Mesa Tournament:

Orange Coast 73, Bakersfield 66--Brian Fracalosy scored 17 of his 25 points in the first half and David Downs scored 17 of his 24 points in the second half for Orange Coast (8-8) as the Pirates defeated the Renegades (7-7). The Pirates dressed only six players, and three starters did not play. Fracalosy was named to the all-tournament team.

In the semifinals of the Fullerton Nike women’s basketball tournament:

Umpqua (Ore.) 98, Fullerton 91--Angela Burgess, sophomore center from Woodbridge High, scored 16 points for Umpqua, which reached the title game for the second consecutive year.

Umpqua, coached by former Golden West coach Dave Stricklin, meets Salt Lake in the title game at 5 p.m. today.

Lauren Murphy had a season-high 30 points, Michelle deBruijn added 26 and Paola Flores 21 for Fullerton, which plays Irvine Valley in the third-place game at 3 today.

Salt Lake (Utah) 43, Irvine Valley 41--Heather Cunningham had 14 for Irvine Valley.

In the third-place game at the San Jose Tournament:

Orange Coast 57, Chaffey 46--Dianne Pulido scored 22 points and Saki Takemoto had 14 as the Pirates defeated Chaffey for the third time this season. The Pirates also defeated the Panthers in the third-place games of the Chaffey and Orange Coast tournaments. Marlesha Naulles led Chaffey with 17 points.