State JC Basketball : Sacramento Wins Title, 77-71

Sophomore guard Ken Drummond scored 31 points to lead Sacramento City College to a 77-71 victory over City College of San Francisco and its first state community college men’s basketball championship Saturday night at Cerritos College.

Drummond, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, made 14 of 28 shots and and 3 of 5 free throws. He also had five assists and seven steals. The 5-11 Drummond averaged 30 points, 8 assists and 9 steals in 5 playoff games.

“This is a once in-a-lifetime thing,” Sacramento Coach Mike Says said. ‘We’ve been here four years thinking we were going to win it and we finally did.’

The Panthers (27-7) used a full-court press and a 2-3 zone to force the Rams into 26 turnovers and out of the game. San Francisco (31-3) turned the ball over 14 times in the second half.

Sacramento opened a 26-14 lead with 11:03 left in the first half, but the Rams closed the gap mostly on the play of sophomore center Dean Garrett and trailed only, 40-37, at intermission. Garrett scored 18 first-half points but hurt his ankle four minutes into the second half. He returned for a short time after the injury but did not score.

With Garrett on the bench, the Panthers were able to take advantage of the open middle. Forwards Rhodney Moore and Henery Clark combined to score 30 points, 20 in the second half.

The loss ended the CCSF’s 23-game winning streak.