COMMUNITY COLLEGE REGIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Golden West Overcomes Its Lack of Depth to Defeat Pasadena, 97-91

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  Golden West College’s lack of depth in the backcourt was never more apparent than on Saturday night, when Pasadena made a strong second-half run, but the Rustlers hung on for a 97-91 victory in the first round of the Southern California regional playoffs at Golden West.

Golden West started the season with three guards, but lost starter Craig Rice to an ankle injury a month ago.

That left Tom Dever and Ric Van Scoyce as the starters, and forced Coach Jim Greenfield into some creative substitution patterns.

Saturday, Golden West opened a 65-35 halftime lead, but Pasadena came out in a full-court press that forced Golden West into 14 second-half turnovers, allowing the Lancers to pull within 10 points, 68-58. Golden West ended with 16 turnovers to 17 for Pasadena. But Pasadena had only five in the second half.

Things got shaky in the final three minutes for Golden West when Van Scoyce and Dever were playing with four fouls each.

Pasadena had cut the lead to six points, 93-87, with 1:01 left but Van Scoyce made both ends of a one-and-one to put Golden West ahead, 95-87, with 42 seconds remaining.

“They got in our face with big-time pressure and it really hurt us,” Greenfield said. “We got the break going in the first half but they shut it down in the second. We just hung on.”

Golden West kept Pasadena down in the final five minutes, making 13 of 14 free throws and 28 of 35 for the game. Golden West made 20 of 25 free throws in the second half with Dever making six of six. Van Scoyce was four of four from the line and Alex Kreps was seven of eight.

Golden West played eight players but only the starters scored. Van Scoyce and Kreps led with 24 points each, Kevin Andersen had 21, and Dever and J.J. Jenkins had 14 each. Andersen led with 13 rebounds and Kreps had nine.

Golden West (22-10) advances to the second round against Los Angeles Valley (22-10) Wednesday. Cypress and Rancho Santiago had byes Saturday but will play Wednesday. Cypress (27-3) will play host to Oxnard as Coach Don Johnson seeks his 500th career victory.

Rancho Santiago (27-3) plays host to Los Angeles Harbor.

In another first-round game:

Moorpark 75, Orange Coast 64--Moorpark harassed Orange Coast into six-of-24 shooting from the floor and took a 41-24 lead. Orange Coast (14-14) managed to close the gap to 60-51 with less than six minutes remaining, but Greg Taylor made a rebound basket and Moorpark’s lead never dipped below 10 thereafter.

Alan Schlines and Scott DeStefano each scored 15 and Chip Hanlon had 11 for Orange Coast. All three are sophomores who played their final game for the Pirates.