COMMUNITY COLLEGE REGIONAL MEN’S BASKETBALL : Three County Teams Have a Shot at State Final Eight

The basketball coaches in the Orange Empire Conference have contended for the past few years that the conference is the best in Southern California.

The point was made stronger when five of the seven members reached the Southern California regional playoffs, which started a week ago.

Three of those teams--Cypress, Rancho Santiago and Golden West--can reach the final eight in the state.

In the four Southern California regional finals at 7:30 tonight, Cypress plays host to El Camino, Glendale is at Rancho Santiago, Moorpark at Golden West and Compton is at Antelope Valley. The winners will advance along with the four winners from Northern California to the quarterfinals at UC Irvine, March 8-10.

A look at tonight’s games:

El Camino (22-10) at Cypress (28-3)--Cypress Coach Don Johnson got his 500th victory when the Chargers defeated Oxnard in the second round Wednesday. This will be the second time the teams have met this season. The Chargers defeated El Camino, 70-49, in December.

El Camino struggled in the South Coast Conference to a fourth-place finish, but has been impressive in the playoffs. The Warriors, seeded 23rd, upset No. 10 Santa Monica, 81-79, last Saturday, then upset No. 7 Los Angeles City, 97-90, Wednesday.

Glendale (24-11) at Rancho Santiago (28-3)--Rancho Santiago, the third-seeded team, breezed by Los Angeles Harbor, 105-68, in the second round. The same night, Glendale upset Cerritos, 71-63. Cerritos was the sixth-seeded team and the defending state champion.

Glendale has been up and down this season, but did defeat Cypress, 68-55, in December.

Rancho Santiago is much taller across the front with Matt Lien (6-feet-9), Corie Blount (6-4) and Gene Altamirano (6-4). Glendale’s tallest starter is 6-6 Justin Lord, but the Vaqueros are quick.

Moorpark (23-10) at Golden West (23-10)--Golden West’s 23 victories are the most the program has had since Coach Jim Greenfield took over in 1978. Golden West’s best season was 1970-71 when the Rustlers were 26-6 under Coach Dick Stricklin.

Golden West is down to eight players because of injuries, and starting forward Kevin Andersen was ill Wednesday but still played as Golden West, the 12th-seeded team, ousted fifth-seeded Los Angles Valley, 84-80. Andersen is expected to be back at full strength tonight.