Orange Coast College

Men's basketball: Shorthanded Pirates fall short to Riverside

Monday, January 28, 2008

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College men's basketball team put up a strong fight against bigger and deeper Riverside, but in the end, it was the visiting Tigers who left the Peterson Gym with an 84-76 win over the shorthanded Pirates on Monday night.

Playing without a few key players for various reasons, the Pirates (5-17, 1-4 in Orange Empire Conference) still not only kept up with the Tigers (19-6, 3-2), they actually led for most of the first half and early on in the second half.

But the Tigers, who trailed 48-35 with 18 minutes left in the game, slowly began to wear down the Pirates and used a 26-4 run over the next seven minutes to take a 61-52 lead.

But OCC regrouped and used a 10-1 run of its own to even things at 62 with 8:20 left.

However, it was the Tigers who threw the final punch, taking the lead for good with just over 8 minutes left, courtesy of an 11-5 run.

Brian Molina led the Pirates with 18 points, while Brian Helmuth added 17 and Brian Gee chipped in 15.

Riverside was led by 23 points from Anthony Dandy, 13 points from David Norris and 12 points from Charles Garcia.

RCC gained a sizable advantage from the free-throw line, hitting 33 of 49 attempts.

The Pirates return to OEC action on Wednesday at Santa Ana, beginning at 5:30 p.m.