Christ College Irvine Finds Way to Finally Beat SCC

IRVINE —  The Christ College Irvine men’s basketball team made a little history Saturday night by defeating Southern California College for the first time in 12 tries.

But more important, CCI’s 83-68 victory kept the Eagles (12-13, 3-5 in the Golden State Athletic Conference) from falling into last in the conference standings. Six of the seven GSAC teams will likely qualify for the eight-team NAIA District 3 playoffs. The CCI victory--after two earlier losses to SCC this season--kept the Eagles percentage points ahead of Cal Baptist (2-4 in the GSAC).

“We felt this game was a lot more important to us than it was to them,” CCI Coach Greg Marshall said. “Although it’s not like they don’t play hard every night--that’s why they are ranked.”

But the Vanguards (18-6, 5-2), ranked No. 21 in the NAIA Division I rankings, might be in danger of dropping out of the Top 25 after the cold-shooting loss.

SCC, a team that has made more than 40% of its three-point attempts this season, shot 8% (two for 26) from behind the three-point line. Rick Witmer, the Vanguards’ sharp-shooting guard, was most noticeably dull, missing all eight of his three-point shots and scoring eight points, 12 points below his average.

Christ College Irvine, which led by as many as 13 points in the first half before settling for an eight-point halftime lead, outhustled and outmuscled the Vanguards, gaining a 38-28 rebounding advantage.

The Eagles led by as many as 19 points in the second half on the strength of deadly free throw shooting. After Corey Smith made two with 4 minutes 35 second remaining, the Eagles had made 22 of 23 free throws in the second half.

Using a frantic press, SCC twice cut the deficit to 12, but each time, CCI was able to pull away. Charles Lockard scored a game-high 19 points, including three first-half three-pointers, and Brian Hazelwood had 14.