SCC Continues Its Domination of CCI

COSTA MESA —  With hopes of ending its history of futility in men’s basketball against Southern California College, Christ College Irvine pulled close to the Vanguards late in a Golden State Athletic Conference game Saturday at SCC.

Doug Grove’s three-point shot moved the Eagles, who had trailed by 13 points three minutes before, to within six points with 2 minutes 50 seconds remaining.

But the Vanguards, ranked 12th in the NAIA Division I poll, weren’t buying into CCI’s visions of an upset and turned two consecutive steals into the four points that all but assured an 84-73 victory.

SCC (14-4, 1-1 in the conference) has beaten Christ College (9-10, 1-2) the 11 times the teams have met. Earlier this season, the Vanguards defeated the Eagles, 63-54, in the championship game of Christ College’s tournament.

Greg Marshall, in his second season as CCI coach, was frustrated while watching his team late in the game.

“We had a lot of turnovers late,” Marshall said. “I think we tried to do the right thing. We just made a lot of poor decisions.”

Most of the errors were forced by an aggressive SCC defense. After cutting the Vanguard lead to six points with 2:50 left, CCI had the ball with a chance to make it closer. Edmond Johnson stole a CCI pass and hit Mike West downcourt for a layup. SCC’s Rick Witmer stole a pass on the Eagles’ next possession and Darrin Kramer followed with a basket that gave SCC an 80-70 lead.

CCI’s D’Andre Brown scored 25 points, including a three-point play that tied the score, 35-35, with 2:53 to go in the first half.

Witmer scored 21 points--including three first-half three-point shots--for the Vanguards.