Late Free Throw Helps Give Fullerton Playoff Victory

Missy Bynon’s free throw with 14 seconds remaining proved to be the winning margin as Fullerton defeated Victor Valley, 64-63, Saturday in the Southern California women’s basketball playoffs.

Teresa Manning scored 17 points for No. 10 Fullerton (19-15) and Bynon, a first-team All-Orange Empire Conference selection, finished with nine points.

Fullerton will play seventh-seeded Riverside in the second round on Wednesday.

No. 23 Victor Valley finished 14-15.

In the Southern California men’s basketball playoffs:

Canyons 66, Saddleback 65--Saddleback missed a possible game-winning shot with 16 seconds remaining as Canyons (13-18) pulled off the upset. Rahshaw McAfee led the Gauchos with 15 points.

Mike Donegan scored 13 points and Semaj Johnson had 11 points for Saddleback, which finished 23-9.

Santa Ana 108, East Los Angeles 94--Mark Wulfemeyer made seven three-pointers and scored a career-high 36 points as host Santa Ana advanced. The Dons took a 48-30 halftime lead, and withstood East L.A.’s 64-point second half.

The Dons will play MiraCosta Wednesday.

In Orange Empire Conference baseball:

Fullerton 19, Santa Ana 18--Fullerton scored nine unearned runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to pull out the victory in a conference opener.

Fullerton (7-7, 1-0) got four singles, three walks, three hit batters and two Santa Ana errors to push across the runs.

Santa Ana (11-1-1, 0-1), led, 10-0, in the second inning and 17-6 in the eighth inning before losing the lead.

Martin Calderon had four hits, including a grand slam, and six RBIs for the Dons and Jimmy Zurn led the Hornets with three hits and five RBIs.

Golden West 8, Saddleback 3--Starting pitcher Nate Beucler gave up one earned run in seven innings to get the victory and Eric Archer had two doubles and a triple for host Golden West (9-4, 1-0).

Gerry Alesia had four hits for Saddleback (10-2, 0-1).

Riverside 15, Orange Coast 4--Antoine Cameron, Wayne Stone and Jason Fransz, the 3-4-5 hitters in the Tigers’ lineup, combined for 10 hits, three home runs, eight runs and 12 RBIs. Riverside scored seven runs in the first two innings.

The only home run for the Pirates was a two-run shot by sophomore Jason Reuss, his fourth of the season. Eric Wiethorn had two hits, a run and an RBI for the Pirates (5-7, 0-1), who left 11 men on base.

In nonconference baseball:

Cypress 7, Long Beach 1--Baylon Monette had three hits, two runs scored and three RBIs for Cypress (12-0).

In the Southwestern women’s tennis tournament:

McNamara advances--Sondra McNamara defeated her opponent, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), to advance to today’s semifinals against Saddleback’s Sharyn Peterson. McNamara was the only player from Orange Coast to advance out of the quarterfinals.