Community College Basketball Roundup : Rancho Santiago’s Defense Stops Saddleback

Gene Altamirano scored 17 points and Chris Martin added 13 to lead Rancho Santiago College to a 72-56 Orange Empire Conference victory over Saddleback Saturday at Rancho Santiago.

Rancho Santiago (13-8 overall, 3-2 in conference), which led at halftime, 29-22, extended its lead to 42-31 with 13:23 left in the game before Saddleback (9-11, 2-2) outscored the Dons, 12-6, to cut the Rancho Santiago lead to 48-43 with 9:20 remaining.

With 8:35 left, Altamirano hit a 3-point shot and Tony Smalley connected on a corner jumper and free throw less than a minute later to bring the Dons’ lead back to 11 points.

Saddleback cut the Rancho Santiago lead to 54-47 on Sean Keyes’ inside shot and two Jay Jefferson free throws with 6:44 left. The Dons responded by outscoring the Gauchos, 16-4, in the next 5 minutes to put the game out of reach.

Four Rancho Santiago players scored in double figures. “The kids were very unselfish offensively,” Coach Dana Pagett said. “Defensively, we just went out and did a good job.”

“They won the game on defense,” said Saddleback Coach Ernie Carr, whose team committed 26 turnovers, 16 in the first half. “They got a third of their points against our offense after turnovers and we got overpowered on second shots.”

Rancho Santiago, which trailed Saddleback, 18-12, midway in the first half, scored 8 consecutive points in a 4-minute span to take its first lead of the game, 20-18, with 5:20 left in the period.

Jefferson, a 6-foot 6-inch freshman who started at center in place of Vincent Mason, gave the Gauchos a 22-21 lead with a jumper from the free-throw line with 3:26 remaining. Rancho Santiago then closed the half by scoring 7 unanswered points.

Mike Oden, who led Dons’ rebounders with 9, also scored 12 points, while Mike Hunter added 10. Smalley, who entered the game as the conference’s fourth-leading scorer with a 16-point average, scored 3 points in his first game since suffering a pulled groin two weeks ago.

Keyes, the OEC’s third-leading scorer with a 16.8 per game average, made just 5 of his 15 field-goal attempts as he finished the game with 10 points.

In other Orange Empire Conference games:

Orange Coast 79, Cypress 70--The Pirates moved into a tie for the conference lead with idle Riverside by hitting 28 of 31 free throws to hold off Cypress. Dareck Crane scored 23 points and Paul Kos added 19--including a 12-of-12 showing from the free-throw line--for Orange Coast (19-5, 4-1). Nate Shea-han, a freshman forward, came off the bench to score 16 points to lead Cypress (10-12, 2-3). Orange Coast took a 37-32 lead at the half, then scored 8 of the first 10 points in the second half to take control.

Golden West 84, Fullerton 70--Sophomore guard Markus Muller-Stach scored 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting to lead the Rustlers (16-8, 1-4) at Fullerton. Teammate Kevin Anderson added 15 points and 16 rebounds. Fullerton took its only lead, 59-57, with 13:08 to play. But Golden West scored 15 points in a row to take a 72-59 lead with 8 minutes remaining. After that, Fullerton (16-7, 1-4) never got any closer than 6. Mike Goff, a freshman forward, hit all 3 of his 3-point attempts to lead Fullerton with 23 points, 21 in the first half. Golden West led at halftime, 48-42.