Men’s basketball: OCC wins with charity

Steve Virgen

COSTA MESA - A day after Thanksgiving and the Orange Coast College

men’s basketball team still had plenty to be thankful for.

Visiting College of the Canyons committed 37 fouls, missed 20 free

throws and fouled out five players as the Pirates feasted on their free

throws, sinking 40 of 58 from the charity stripe, which led to an 87-80

nonconference victory Friday.

“You need to find ways to win basketball games,” OCC Coach Mark Hill

said. “ (Nick) Burwell wasn’t on his game today. He got into foul trouble

and he really didn’t carry the load. Fortunately, free throws helped us

get over the top.”

OCC’s Nick Burwell, who scored 45 points in a 104-93 victory at El

Camino Wednesday, hit 8 of 23 en route to 25 points, committed his third

foul and left the game with seven minutes remaining in the first half.

“I came out sort of slow after the holiday because I ate good,”

Burwell said. “The team played real well. They showed a lot of heart,

even though I wasn’t in.”

Before he left, OCC (2-2) broke away from an 8-8 tie to build a 27-17

advantage as Burwell scored 16 out of the 19-point run.

But when Burwell left, the Cougars went on a 14-2 run and tied the

score, 29-29, as they scored on second and third chances from offensive

rebounds.

College of the Canyons (3-5) finished with 62 rebounds, half of those

offensive, and OCC grabbed 49 boards.

“Defensively, we did a very bad job of boxing out,” Hill said.

Said Chad Hagedorn, who led the Pirates with 28 points and 9 rebounds,

“It was terrible. We were giving up so many offensive boards. That’s how

they were staying in the game. We should’ve been ahead by 20.”

After the Cougars’ 14-2, the Pirates retaliated with a 9-0 run to

close out the half and carry a 38-29 lead.

The second half became a little sloppy as both teams fouled often and

committed turnovers. At one point, College of the Canyons Coach Howard

Fisher asked a reporter for chocolate because he said it would calm him

down.

The Cougars would not calm down with their fouling. The Pirates made

25 out of 35 free throws in the second half and College of the Canyons

played only four players with 41 seconds remaining because it ran out of

bodies.

Hill was satisfied to take the win, but said his team needs to

improve.

“We still have a lot to learn,” Hill said. “We have a lot of freshman

on the team. We’re not a well-oiled machine by any means at this point.

We can get better. I know we can. And we have to because our conference

is so good.”

The Pirates will host an eight-team tournament, Thursday through

Saturday.

NONCONFERENCE

Orange Coast 87, College of the Canyons 80

College of the Canyons - Gbewonyo 35, Edwards 10, Byrd 7, Bjarnason 6,

Echevestre 9, Grooms 3, Suazo 1, Evans 2, Hungerford 2, Brown 5.

3-pt goals - Bjarnson 2.

Fouled out - Byrd, Edwards, Grooms, Suazo, Brown.

Technical fouls: Evans.

Orange Coast - Hagedorn 28, Burwell 26, Rivera 9, Earl 7, McKinney 5,

Libistre 4, Madrid 4, Webster 2, Meyers 2.

3-pt goals - Burwell 2, Rivera 2, McKinney 1.

Fouled out - Meyers

Technical fouls - Hagedorn

Halftime - Orange Coast, 38-29.