Orange Coast College

Men's Basketball: Pirates shock No. 2 Tigers in OEC finale

Friday, February 16, 2007

COSTA MESA - The playoff hopes for the Orange Coast College men's basketball got one gigantic boost in the right direction on Friday night as the Pirates stunned No. 2 Riverside 73-68 in the Orange Empire Conference finale.

As for the upcoming playoffs, pairings will be announced this weekend and OCC head coach Steve Spencer likes his team's chances of a berth.

"This win definitely helps our cause, no doubt about it," Spencer said. "It was a nice win for us to get this win against a team like Riverside. We were able to hit our free throws down the stretch and we picked up a couple of big defensive stops when we needed them."

Steve Cornett (pictured right) overcame second-half foul trouble to score 17 points to lead the Pirates (15-15, 6-6 in the OEC). Shaun Engle added 11 points, while Brian Gee and Joe Nwabuzor came off the bench to each chip in 10 points.

In a game loaded with fouls and free throws, both teams found themselves looking for players with no foul trouble as OCC jumped out to a 38-25 lead at the half against the much-bigger Tigers (26-4, 9-3).

Mookie Pierre led the Tigers with 33 points, 25 in the second half, but the Pirates were able to keep the rest of RCC in check the entire night.

Both teams combined for 70 free-throw attempts and 57 fouls.

Riverside cut the deficit to two on two different occasions, but just could not get back to even against a pesky Pirate defense that forced 18 Tiger turnovers.

Both teams went 25-of-35 from the free-throw line, but the Pirates managed to knock down 19-of-25 in the second half to maintain their lead down the stretch.