Orange Coast College - Log Yearbook (Costa Mesa, CA)

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In a fight down to the wire OCC ' s defending cham- pion basketball squad, like the Pirate footballers, relinquished their hold as champions to county rival Santa Ana. The battling Bucs led the conference throughout most of the season but second round losses to the champion Dons and a surprising Chaf- fey quintet shoved the Bucs out of the top spot. The Locals started the season in true championship form, sailing through the practice season with a for- midable 13 win and four loss record. Coach Alan Sawyer guided the Pirates through the 17 practice game schedule against some of the top west coast junior college cage squads. The Bucs entered the Santa Ana Tournament early in December where the Redcoats suffered their first two losses. They dropped a thriller to Hancock Junior College of Santa Maria before being elimi- nated from the tourney with a loss to Bakersfield. A tournament jin xcontinued to plague the OCC five as they fought their way to a third place finish in the Chaffey Invitational. The Bucs ' only loss at Chaf- fey came against the mighty Santa Ana five, 83-54. Later in December the Bucs dropped a first round game to San Diego JC in the San Bernardino Tour- nament but continued through without another loss to garner the consolation championship. Led by free scoring Mike Woods and versatile Eddie Pope the Bucs were tabbed as pre-season favorites, along with Fullerton and Santa Ana, to retain their crown. The OCC quintet opened Eastern Conference action with an easy victory over the Citrus Owls and fol- lowed with one of the biggest surprises of the young season. In their second conference outing the Bucs met head to head with the Fullerton Hornets, peren- nial powerhouse of EC cage warfare, and downed the strong Hornet five 83-58 on the Costa Mesa High School floor. Coast followed with a narrow 81-79 victory over a surprising Chaffey five before the roof caved in. The Bucs traveled to the dark confines of the San Ber- nardino Valley College gym where they were rudely upset by the host Indians, 77-65. The Tribe ' s ace forward Mike McFerson nearly single-handedly de- feated Coast, pouring through 31 points. The loss, coupled by Fullerton ' s upset of Santa Ana, set the Conference standings into a three-way tie among the three Orange County schools. San Ber- nardino continued their role as the giant killer, knocking off Fullerton to set the stage for a show- down between Coast and the Dons for the confer- ence leadership. Playing on the Don ' s home court the inspired Pirates overcame an early Santa Ana lead and stifled the high scoring Don center, Ray Butler, to squeeze by the Dons 61-60 in the final minutes of play. Tony Gamier and Pope led the Coast attack o put the Bucs in sole position for the EC lead. The defending champs narrowly escaped with the first round leadership as they were forced into a double overtime to hand Riverside City College and Bill Weese, the conference ' s scoring champion, a close 82-81 defeat. Entering into the second round of play with a nine win and one loss record the Bucs became the only team in many years to hand Fullerton two losses in one season as they battled down to the wire to gain a thrilling 64-60 victory in a game played on the Hornet ' s home court. Once again it was a team vic- tory for the Coast five with all five starters figuring in the win. Gary Green emerged as high point man followed closely by Pope, Woods, Don Sears and Dave Buss. The high-riding Pirates were handed their second rude jolt of the season and were dropped from the conference lead when they dropped a 99-81 game ot a red-hot Chaffey Panther five. The Panthers hit on over 55 per cent offensively and stopped the Buc attack cold to shove the race for the crown into a deadlock between Coast and Santa Ana. The Pirates coasted through the San Bernardino game before preparing to meet Santa Ana in the Junior College game of the year and the Eastern Conference championship, decider. Both entered the game, played on the Bucs home court, with nine and two records. The Dons jumped into an early lead but the never-say-die Bucs fought back in the second half to close the gap. The loss of Pope late in the game due to an injury and the loss of center Buss via the foul route aided the Don ' s cause as the Santa Anans staved off the Pirate rally to come out on the long end of a 75-71 score and their first Eastern Conference basketball crown. OCC had to settle for a second place with a confer- ence record of 1 1 wins and three losses, one game behind the Dons. Fullerton finished third to provide Orange County a sweep of the top spots, while San Bernardino, Riverside, Chaffey, Mt. SAC and Citrus finished in that order. The Bucs compiled an overall season record of 24 wins and seven losses. Ace forward Mike Woods and Eddie Pope battled for team scoring honors with Woods edging Pope by one point. Woods scored 449 points for the 31 games and held a 14.5 point per game average. Pope trailed with 448 but hit on a 15.9 point per game average, since he played m only 30 games compared to Woods ' 31 . Guard Gary Green was third with 343 points and an 1 1 point average, followed by Donnie Sears, 326 points (10.5) and center Dave Buss, 315 points (10.1). Tony Gamier was sixth with 179 points and an av- erage of 5.7 points per outing. Don Minson collected 81 points (2.7); Jerry Hulbert, 76 (2.8); D on Rogers, 52 (2.6); Dave Kluz, 18 (1.2); Charlie Bunker, 14 (0.7); Terry Hall (12 (0.6); Jerry Kemper, four (0.3); and Al Espinoza, two (0.0). Eddie Pope and Donnie Sears were selected by their Pirate teammates to play in the Eastern Conference All-Star, which pits members of the conference teams against the EC champions. Buc Coach Alan Sawyer was selected to coach the All-Star quintet. The mighty Dons showed their might as they routed the All-Star five 91-64. Pope scored seven points while Sears hit four counters. Sawyer played the entire roster of 14 players in the game.

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Dave Buss Donie Sears Mike Woods Terry Hall Tony Gamier Dave Kluz Jerry Kemper D. Rogers