Another Amos Is Famous on Rancho Santiago Court

For years, Sean Amos of Rancho Santiago College has found ways to score against a taller player with nothing more on the line than family bragging rights.

Amos, 6 feet 4, has always been shorter than older brother, Fred, a 6-9 forward currently playing at Cal State Fullerton.

“I’ve had plenty of practice against bigger guys,” Sean said. “Fred is an exceptional shot-blocker.”

Fred played two seasons at Rancho Santiago starting in 1991-92 and is the college’s all-time shot-blocker with 140.

Sean, using the basic moves he learned on the family driveway, has become a scoring and rebounding force for the Dons.

Amos, often matched against players at least two inches taller, is averaging a team-high 23 points and eight rebounds through 19 games. He is shooting 63%, second best in the Orange Empire Conference.

“I had no idea at the beginning of the year that I would score this many points,” Amos said.

Amos came to Rancho Santiago from Foothill High School in the fall of 1991 but decided to sit out the season. “My skills just weren’t up to par,” he said.

Amos spent his time working out with the team and attending to his studies. He has a 3.8 grade-point average.

Last season he started slowly but became more impressive as the season went along. He averaged six points and four rebounds coming off the bench.

Amos spent the summer increasing his upper-body strength, a key to his inside success, by doing push-ups.

“Sean has just done an excellent job for us,” Rancho Santiago Coach Dana Pagett said. “He has really shown some good leadership capabilities.”

Rancho Santiago was expected to finish in the bottom half of the conference, but the Dons (14-5, 2-0) have been impressive.

Amos is a big part of Rancho Santiago’s success, but he repeatedly pointed out that the hard work of his teammates and work ethic he learned from his brother and Pagett are reasons for how well things are going.

“I’m starting to get some interest (from four-year colleges),” said Amos, 19. “But I just might (only) go to school. I’m keeping my options open. I’m a student first. That’s another thing I learned at Rancho Santiago.”

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In the Cards: Corie Blount and Eric Pauley, both former Orange County standouts, are featured on trading cards this year.

Blount, who played on Rancho Santiago’s 1989-90 and 1990-91 State championship teams before moving on to Cincinnati, was a first-round pick of the Chicago Bulls. He is Card No. 159 in the Topps Stadium Club set.

Blount, a forward/center, started the week averaging 11 minutes and three points for the Bulls, the three-time defending NBA champions.

Pauley, a forward, helped Cypress to the Orange Empire Conference title in 1989-90 and a berth in the State tournament in 1990-91 He went to Kansas where he started for most of two seasons. He is Card No. 50 in the Classic four-sport collection series.

Pauley had a tryout with Milwaukee but was cut. He is currently playing professionally in Germany.

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Pam Prine, a freshman defender from Cypress College, was the only Southern California player to be selected first-team All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Assn. of America.

Prine, from Troy High School, also was the Orange Empire Conference’s player of the year. She had nine goals and six assists for Cypress, which went 20-1. The Chargers’ only loss was to De Anza in the State championship in a shootout.

Notes

Irvine Valley (14-6, 2-0) and Riverside (16-4, 2-0), two of the hotter men’s basketball teams in the Orange Empire Conference, meet at 7 p.m. today at Riverside. Irvine Valley comes in with a four-game winning streak and has won 10 of the last 12. Riverside has won eight in a row and 14 of 16. A little closer to home, Saddleback (11-6, 1-1) plays host to Rancho Santiago today in the Gauchos’ first home conference game. . . . Todd Loewe, a sophomore guard at OCC, had two three-pointers last week, moving him into first place on the college’s all-time list.