The Colleges : Community College Men’s Basketball : Fullerton’s Backcourt Sparks Comeback Win

Fullerton College played about as poorly as it could in the first half but then played about as well as it could in the second and defeated Rancho Santiago, 96-75, Wednesday in the Orange Empire Conference opener for both teams at Rancho Santiago.

Rancho Santiago led, 45-35, at the half as Fullerton struggled.

The Hornets made 5 of 14 free throws and had 14 turnovers in the first half. Fullerton had led, 20-17, with 9 minutes left but then Rancho Santiago went on a 28-15 run to close the half.

“We were just disappointed at the way we played in the first half,” Fullerton Coach Roger See said. “We just came out in the conference opener and laid an egg.”

Fullerton turned to its guards to lead the second-half comeback. Sophomore starter Kelli McKinney scored 16 points, all in the second half.

Off the bench, Fullerton’s Mark Rudometkin scored all 12 of his points in the second half, and Mickey Roberts scored 6 of his 8 in the second half.

Fullerton finally caught Rancho Santiago at 55-55 with 12:50 left in the game.

The tying basket came on a short jumper by forward Geoff Adams, who picked up a loose ball that rolled between the legs of 2 Rancho Santiago players in the key.

Rudometkin made a short jumper, was fouled, and made the free throw to put Fullerton ahead, 58-55, a minute later.

McKinney then hit a 3-pointer, Rancho Santiago had a turnover and Rudometkin made a 3-pointer to give Fullerton a 64-55 lead. Fullerton increased the lead from there.

“When the starting guards didn’t get it done, we got other people in there to pick us up,” See said. “But that’s the way it has been all season for this team. Every time we needed it, the bench has been there.”

Fullerton made all 3 3-pointers it tried. Rancho Santiago fared much worst. The Dons’ Chris Martin was 1 of 6 and the team was 2 of 15.

Adams led Fullerton (16-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play) with 18 points, Darrly Griffin had 14 and Mike Goff 13.

Tony Smalley led Rancho Santiago (10-7, 0-1) with 16, Gene Altamirano 14 and John Guerrero 10.

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Cypress 57, Saddleback 53--Freshman center Andre Lamoureux scored 21 points, including 11 of his team’s last 19, for visiting Cypress (8-8, 1-0), the defending conference champion. Lamoureux was 8 of 10 from the field and 5 of 6 from the field. Ian Donnelly added 12 for Cypress.

Bradd Heckman scored 20 and Sean Keyes 15 for Saddleback (7-10, 0-1). Heckman, a sophomore forward, has scored 51 points in his past 2 games.

Riverside 78, Golden West 77--Golden West trailed, 78-74, but Markus Muller-Stach made a 3-pointer with 5 seconds left to cut the lead to 1 point. Riverside was able to inbound the ball and run out the clock. Muller-Stach finished with a team-high 19 points, 16 in the second half, as Golden West (15-5, 0-1) tried to overcome a 41-32 halftime deficit.

Mike Steward had 23 and Bobby Joyce 14 for Riverside (17-6, 1-0).