State Community College Basketball Playoffs : Cypress’ Rally Eliminates Skyline, 55-53

SANTA CLARA — Cypress College was forced into a new offense Thursday, but it still got a favorable result--a victory.

Cypress played the last 4:40 of the game with one forward and four guards and rallied to defeat Skyline, 55-53, in the community college men’s state basketball tournament at Santa Clara University in front of 1,000.

It was the 16th consecutive victory for the Chargers (31-5), who play Columbia in the semifinals at 8 tonight. Columbia (31-2) defeated Palomar, 85-66.

Skyline led by 11 points twice early in the second half, but Cypress used a smaller, quicker lineup to rally.

But it wasn’t a designed move by Cypress Coach Don Johnson. It was done because of fouls. Forward Kris Browdowski fouled out with 10:44 left in the game and forward John Jackson departed with 4:40 remaining.

That left Jeff Green, a 6-foot 4-inch forward, as the tallest player on the court for Cypress. Skyline had three players 6-4 or taller at the time.

Green keyed the rally with 15 points, all in the second half.

“I was scared,” Green said about being the lone forward on the court. “I knew I had to pick it up. I could see my sophomore season going downhill and I didn’t want it to end that way.”

Cypress went on a 10-point run and took the lead, 41-40, with 5:52 left. Karl Becker, one of the replacement guards, hit a pair of three-point shots to spark the spurt.

Skyline came back to take a 49-48 lead with 2:40 remaining, but Green had a rebound basket to put Cypress back on top, 50-49, with 1:58 remaining.

Charles Caldwell, a freshman who played sparingly this season, then made both ends of a one-and-one with 1:41 left to boost Cypress’ lead to 52-49 lead.

Green added two free throws with 34 seconds left and Greg Spruell made one with 8 seconds left as Cypress put the game away.

Shaun Wilson made a three-point basket as time ran out for Skyline.

“I don’t know why, but I was a little intimidated in the first half,” said Green, who had a game-high 12 rebounds. “In the second half, the guards really did a good job of getting me the ball down low.”

It was the third straight year Skyline (26-8) made the tournament only to be beaten in the first round. Last year, Skyline led Saddleback by nine in the second half before losing.

“We’ll use five guards if that’s what it takes to win,” Johnson said. “We played very poorly tonight. If we play that way against Columbia, it will not even be an interesting game, let alone a close one.”

Skyline had built a 30-21 lead at the end of the first half. Jim Sammon scored 10 points for Cypress in the half and had the team’s only field goals in the first 14 minutes of the half.

Jackson, who finished with 12 points, made a shot from inside the lane with 6 minutes left to break Sammon’s streak.