Orange County Community College Basketball : Fullerton’s Big Rally Beats Pasadena

Fullerton College overcame a 21-point deficit in the second half to defeat Pasadena City, 79-74, Wednesday in the South Coast Conference basketball opener for both teams at Fullerton.

The Hornets (1-0, 13-5) also came back from a horrible performance at the free-throw line. Fullerton was 2 of 15 in the first half and 11 of 17 in the second.

Pasadena led at halftime, 46-30.

With 17:05 to play, Pasadena’s John Clark scored on a layup to put the Lancers (0-1, 9-8) ahead, 55-34. Then Fullerton went on a 12-0 run.

The game appeared secure again for the Lancers when Clark, a sophomore forward, scored 14 of the Lancers’ next 16 points to give them a 74-57 lead with 4:30 to play.

Clark finished with a game-high 33 points.

But Pasadena failed to score again.

Fullerton began cutting into the lead with the help of three-point baskets by Bart Hakeman and Jim Mansfield and finally took the lead, 75-74, on a layup by Hakeman with 1:04 to play.

Pasadena had a chance to go ahead again, but Eric Cooper missed two free throws with 45 seconds left.

Hakeman gave the Hornets a three-point lead, 77-74, by making both ends of a one-and-one with 18 seconds remaining. He had actually missed the second shot but made his second chance at it when Pasadena was called for a lane violation.

“We played early like it was our first conference game, and it was,” said Roger See, Fullerton coach. “We don’t give up when we get down, but we would rather not get down by that much.

“Maybe this will convince a few of the non-believers in the stands that we are a good team.”

Hakeman, a sophomore guard, led Fullerton with 26 points, 16 in the second half. Troy Joseph scored 8 points in the second half, 12 for the game.

Kevin Patrick and Jim Mansfield added 11 each for the Hornets, who play at Long Beach City Saturday night.

In other men’s action:

Cypress 67, Johnson County (Kansas) 53--Andy Olivarez, a 6-foot 3-inch sophomore forward, scored 22 points and had 3 blocked shots to lead Cypress to the consolation championship of the Rotary National Shootout at Mesa College in Mesa, Ariz. Dave Kerksey added 11 points and 9 rebounds for the Chargers (12-9). Cypress shot 62% from the floor and 75% from the free-throw line.

In women’s action:

Golden West 67, Cerritos 52--April Marion, a sophomore forward, scored 20 points to lead the Rustlers in their South Coast Conference opener at Golden West. The Rustlers (18-1 and No. 2 in the state) showed their strength early and took a 39-20 halftime lead over No. 3 Cerritos (14-3). Jeannine Battaglia, a freshman guard, added 16 points for Golden West. Hala Walker led Cerritos with 12 points.