Men’s basketball: Bucs fight for win

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - In college basketball, including junior college, there

are some things that are taboo.

For instance, the visiting team should not huddle at center court

after starting lineups are announced.

When visiting Grossmont College dared to do that huddle on Saturday

night, the Orange Coast men’s basketball team made the Griffins pay for

the penalty.

In a game that featured pandemonium, a fast-paced up-tempo style,

frenzied fouls, nearly a brawl and the end of the game and a unity of the

Pirates, OCC raced to a 98-88 nonconference victory that stemmed from a

pregame confrontation.

“No one ever steps on our Pirate (center court),” said OCC’s Nick

Burwell, who scored a game-high 30 points. “This is our house. When they

did that, it fired us up. And we controlled that fire through the whole

game.”

After the Grossmont starting lineup was announced, the Griffins

huddled at center court. Then the OCC starters were announced and the

Pirates huddle right next to Grossmont.

“That’s very disrespectful,” said Pirates point guard Ryan Earl, who

finished with 13 points. “But, that set the tone for the game.”

Said OCC Coach Mark Hill “I reminded them at halftime about that very

same thing. They took it to heart.”

The Pirates, who led 57-45 at halftime, went on a 16-4 run to start

the second half and held off a late Griffins’ comeback.

After the game, when teams exchanged handshakes, a fight almost broke

out as coaches held back players amid shoves, missed punches and

profanities.

OCC (5-4) went to the locker room and the Griffins (8-3) went straight

to the bus and left instead of taking showers in the room next to the

Pirates.

“It’s unfortunate,” Burwell said. “But, I’m glad this happened because

now we know where we stand. We are all for each other on the court or off

the court.”

OCC began the game with a 6-0 lead, but the Griffins responded and the

teams were tied at 17 with 14:30 remaining in the first half.

The Pirates then went on a 16-0 run in less than four minutes to grab

control.

The fast and up-and-down style of the game catered to the Bucs. They

thrived on it in the first half as OCC held a 57-45 lead at halftime

behind Burwell’s 22 points.

“I was happy with the way we started the basketball game,” Hill said.

“We just came out with a lot of intensity.”

Four OCC players scored in double figures, which included Burwell and

Earl. Chad Hagedorn finished with 18 points as he was perfect from the

field (6-of-6) and he made six out of eight free-throw attempts. Ryan

Webster came off the OCC bench to score 11 as he knocked down three out

of five three-point shot attempts. Burwell was also hot from long range.

He connected on 6 of 12 from three-point range.

There were four technical fouls assessed and one OCC intentional foul

in the heated battle. Still, the win has given the Bucs hope that they

are a good team and they are united.

“It was a lot more fun tonight because we were running so much,” Earl

said. “It was good for the team to get a win like this. It fired us up,

hopefully it will carry over to our next game.”

NONCONFERENCE

Orange Coast 98, Grossmont 88

Grossmont - Sandeford 18, Crockem 16, Jones 13, Lechtenberg 9, Hatch

8, Kedding 8, Daniels 8, Bishop 4, Hicks 4.

3-pt. goals - Lechtenberg 3, Crockem 2, Daniels 1, Jones 1.

Fouled out - Hicks, Jones.

Technical - Hicks, Jones.

Orange Coast - Burwell 30, Hagedorn 18, Earl 13, Webster 11, McKinney

6, Madrid 5, Oliver 5, Rivera 4, Meyers 4, Libistre 2.

3-pt. goals - Burwell 6, Webster 3, Madrid 1.

Fouled out - Libistre, Oliver.

Technical - Oliver, Earl.

Halftime: Orange Coast, 57-45.