Community College Basketball : Cypress Loses Big Lead, Game to Central Arizona

Central Arizona College rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to defeat Cypress, 64-61, Thursday in the first round of the Cypress Thoroughbred basketball tournament.

Cypress (0-1) opened a 43-30 lead with 16:01 left in the game and seemed in control. But Central Arizona (1-0) switched to a 1-1-3 zone defense to take away the outside shot.

Central went on a 21-5 run after changing the defense and took the lead, 51-48, on a field goal by Mike Morris with 7:20 left.

Cypress guard Grayle Humphrey then made both ends of a 1-and-1 to tie it, 51-51, with 6:57 left. Cypress tied it again at 53 on a basket by Vince Hizon with 3:40 left.

But down the stretch, Central Arizona was able to make both ends of three 1-and-1 opportunities and Cypress never got closer than a point the rest of the way.

Central Arizona led, 60-56, after David Martin made 2 free throws with 45 seconds remaining, but Cypress’ Mike Varos made a 3-point basket to cut the lead to 60-59 with 37 seconds left.

Martin led Central with 18 points. Wade Renner had 14 and Mark Meredith had 11.

Central Arizona made 4 free throws in the final 30 seconds to prevent a Cypress comeback.

The Chargers had used strong outside shooting to build a 35-27 halftime lead.

“We didn’t feel complacent or overconfident at the half,” Cypress Coach Don Johnson said. “Changing their defense just killed us. We have had trouble in practice when we knew what the defense was. You can imagine the trouble we had once we didn’t know what to do. It was every man for himself out there. We just couldn’t get the ball where it should have been.”

Cypress took control of the perimeter from the outset as the Chargers’ first 3 shots were from the 3-point area. Varos made the first, then Humphrey, a freshman from Sonora High School, made 2 in a row and Cypress led, 9-4.

Hizon, a freshman guard from Mater Dei, led Cypress with 12 points, and Humphrey had 11, including 3 of 7 shooting from 3-point range.

Ian Donnelly and Varos had 10 each for Cypress, which plays Elgin, Ill., in the consolation round today at 2 p.m.

Central Arizona plays San Joaquin Delta in the championship round at 6 tonight.

The tournament, which matches four teams from California against four from across the nation, ends Saturday with the championship game at 8 p.m.

In the Fullerton Tournament:

College of the Canyons 97, Saddleback 89--Steve Valenzuela scored 21 points and Larry Allbritton 18 as Canyons advanced to the championship semifinals. Canyons (2-0) led by as many as 18 points in the second half and Saddleback (0-1) never got closer than 8. Sean Keyes scored 29 points for the Gauchos.