Cypress, Calif. -- Cypress came into Friday nights game looking for their first conference win of the year in a match-up against rival Fullerton College. The Hornets came ready to play though and escaped from Gym II with a narrow 86-84 victory.
For the majority of the first half, both teams went back and forth exchanging baskets before Fullerton started to pull away with a generous lead with seven minutes to go in the first half. By halftime they held a 12 point advantage, 50-38.
Throughout most of the second half, Fullerton managed to mantain the lead. However, with eight minutes to go in the game Cypress mounted a comeback and with 6:34 left Cypress's Jason Tran hit a 3 pointer to tie the game up at 74-74. The Hornets never broke down though and while both teams stayed within two points of each other until the final buzzer, they never relinquished a lead to Cypress.
With just 4 seconds left on the clock and down by two, Kevin Barnes rebounded a missed free throw by Fullerton's Carnell Gray and managed to dribble to half court before launching a desperation shot that came close to going into the basket, but missed, sealing the win for Fullerton.
Five Fullerton players score in double digits. Kyle Kintzle, coming off the bench, was the high scorer for the Hornets with 17. Dakota Allinson and Roger Hamel, both starters, each had 15 points.
For Cypress, David Gonzalez led all scorers with 32. He shot 7 of 9 from behind 3-pt. and 9-13 from the field. He also grabbed five rebounds.
Jerred Cook contributed with 14 points for the Chargers while Kevin Barnes and Mark Townes each had nine.
The Chargers now fall to 0-2 in conference play and 5-12 overall.
Conference play continues for Cypress as they travel to face Orange Coast this Wednesday, January 15th. Tip-off is set for 5:30pm.