Saddleback Clinches Share of Title

Donzell Hayes scored 24 points and Andre Jackson had 18 with nine rebounds as host Saddleback clinched at least a share of the Orange Empire Conference men’s basketball title with a 69-63 victory over Fullerton.

Hayes was eight of 13 from the field and six for eight from behind the three-point arc for Saddleback (20-9, 11-2), which remained one game ahead of Riverside. The two teams play Friday night at Saddleback in the last game of the regular season.

Lawrence Felder led the Hornets (13-17, 4-9) with 15 points.

In other conference games:

Riverside 80, Irvine Valley 63 (OT)--Riverside equaled its second-half point total with 22 points in the five-minute overtime period. Both teams had a chance to win late in regulation, but Irvine Valley’s Ben Esplin missed an off-balance six-footer with 4.6 seconds remaining and Riverside’s Matt Noon missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

Santa Ana 85, Cypress 73--Santa Ana outscored visiting Cypress 51-41 in the second half. Greg Gray had 25 points and 15 rebounds and Chris Mattice scored 18 for the Dons (21-9, 9-4).

Ryan Tenpas had 19 points and 15 rebounds for the Chargers (9-21, 2-11).

In Orange Empire Conference women’s basketball:

Fullerton 67, Saddleback 63--Kristi Jepsen scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds and Cheranny Lindsay added 11 points and 13 rebounds for the visiting Hornets (17-12, 8-5). Joyce Sudario had 16 points for Fullerton, which overcame an 11-for-42 shooting performance in the first half.

Betsy Holman led Saddleback (8-21, 2-11) with 20 points. Katie McCluskey had 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Santa Ana 73, Cypress 71--In a night of school records, Rochelle Anthony’s 32 points gave her a Santa Ana career record. Her 989 puts her over Dee Gibson’s 1986-88 record.

Santa Ana (21-8, 10-3) also set a school record for victories in a season.

Cypress freshman Antares Vice pulled down 13 rebounds to give her 323, a single-season record. She topped Pam Fritsch’s 1986-87 total of 322. Cypress is 12-18, 5-8.