Orange Coast College

Men's Basketball: Pirates come up short against Cypress

Thursday, February 12, 2009

COSTA MESA -- Playing without standout forward Martin Whitmore (ankle sprain), the shorthanded Orange Coast College men's basketball team put up a strong fight, but came up short against visiting Cypress, 84-77, on Wednesday night at the Peterson Gym.

Chris Curtis tried to pick up the slack for OCC (9-19, 2-7 in the Orange Empire Conference) by scoring 26 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, but the Chargers (14-15, 4-5) hit some key free throws down the stretch to hold off the hosts.

John Staats led the Chargers with 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Tim Austin added 16 points off the bench.

OCC led 76-74 with 1:30 left in the game, but Cypress responded with a basket by DuWayne King and a pair from Staats free throws to take the lead for good.

The Pirates trailed 78-77 and was at the line with under 30 seconds left with a chance to take the lead, but two shots from the charity stripe missed their mark. From there, Cypress went 6-for-6 from the stripe in the final few seconds to prevail.

Both teams combined for 80 free-throw attempts and 60 fouls were called.

OCC wraps up its home schedule on Friday against Fullerton before concluding the regular season at Riverside on Feb. 18 and at Santa Ana on Feb. 20. All three games will begin at 5:30 p.m.