Community College Basketball Roundup : Saddleback and Saturday: a Winning Combination

Saddleback College continued to find that it’s good to stay home on Saturdays. The Gauchos scored their second consecutive conference upset victory on a Saturday night by defeating Golden West, 85-74, in an Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball game.

Last Saturday, Saddleback (9-11 overall and 2-2 in conference) beat conference favorite Riverside, 53-48. Both of Saddleback’s losses have come on the road on Wednesdays.

“I just wish we could play all Saturday games at home,” Saddleback Coach Ernie Carr said. “It’s been good to us so far.”

Guard Sean Keyes led the Saddleback charge with a game-high 29 points, 21 coming in the first 10 minutes of the second half as Saddleback turned a 5-point halftime lead into a 20-point one.

Sophomore forward Bradd Heckman made a layup to open the second half, then Keyes, a 6-foot 3-inch freshman from Washington Prep in Los Angeles, took over.

He scored 19 of Saddleback’s next 21 points, including 12 in a row and Saddleback led, 59-45, with 12:06 left.

Keyes was 11 of 18 from the field, 2 of 3 from 3-point range and 5 of 7 from the free-throw line.

“I thought Sean Keyes played super,” Carr said. “But it was also an overall great effort by us. We just played super defense. We normally don’t score like that (Saddleback is averaging 72 points a game).”

Antone Curtis scored 15, Heckman 13 and Wun Versher 10 for Saddleback. Lesean London scored 8 for Saddleback off the bench, including 6-of-6 free throws down the stretch to stall a mild comeback attempt by Golden West.

Golden West, which was averaging 95 points a game, shot 35% (26 of 74) from the field. Forward Markus Muller-Stach, who had been averaging 24 points a game, was 4 of 20 from the field and appeared to force several shots. He finished with 12 points.

Forward Alex Kreps led Golden West (15-7, 0-3) with 18 points, guard Elbert Devis had 15 and forward Steve Moser had 11.

Golden West started the conference as one of the favorites with a 15-4 record, but has lost 3 straight. Golden West was defeated by Riverside, 78-77, then OCC, 72-70, last Saturday before losing to Saddleback.

“I just don’t know what happened,” Golden West Coach Jim Greenfield said. “I wish I did but I don’t. We just have to keep trying, we have 9 more chances.”

In other Orange Empire Conference action:

Rancho Santiago 61, Orange Coast 56--A 3-point play (a dunk and a free throw) by Matt Lien with 2 seconds left sealed the victory for Rancho Santiago. Lien had 15 points and Chris Martin had 18 for Rancho Santiago (12-8, 2-2). Rancho Santiago played without leading scorer Tony Smalley, who was sidelined with a groin injury. Smalley averages 16 points a game. Dareck Crane had 21 points to lead Orange Coast (17-5, 2-1).

Riverside 81, Fullerton 52--Cory Arnett and Bobby Joyce had 19 and 13 points, respectively, to pace host Riverside (19-7, 3-1). Geoff Adams had 14 and Mike Goff 10 for Fullerton (16-5, 1-2). The Hornets shot just 32% for the game.

In nonconference action:

Cypress 76, Occidental JV 75--Ian Donnelly rebounded a missed free throw and scored with 21 seconds left to lift visiting Cypress to the win. Grayle Humphrey, who led Cypress with 16 points, missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with Cypress trailing, 75-74, and Donnelly rebounded. Donnelly had 11 points. Dan Nugent led Occidental (4-8) with 19 points. Cypress is 10-10.