PEELING THE ORANGE FOR 20TH WIN

The Fullerton College men's basketball team hosted Orange Coast College Friday night and rolled the Pirates 80-38.

For the second time this season, the Hornets beat OCC to complete the sweep. The win keeps Fullerton in step with Santiago Canyon for first place in the Orange Empire Conference at 9-2. Orange Coast's loss keeps the team down in the cellar in the OEC at 1-10.

Since taking over as the head coach in 2015-16, Perry Webster has guided Fullerton to a 20-win season in all 9 seasons played (no season in 2020-21/COVID-19).

The Hornets kept the Pirates scoreless for the first 9 minutes of the game with a score of 11-0. With 4 minutes left in the first half, Fullerton moved ahead 27-9 on a successful drive to the bucket by Justin Davis. Both teams hit the locker-rooms for the halftime break with FC running up a 33-16 advantage.

A jumper by Shawn Woodson ended a 13-2 run (46-18) that began at the top of the second half. Fullerton continued to pressure Orange Coast forcing the Pirates to shoot 22.2% from the floor. With OCC unable to generate any offense, the Hornets took advantage shooting 47.3% pushing their lead to 42 with a minute left for the win.

Two players scored a game-high 16 points in Joe Grahovac and Anthony Smith Jr. Grahovac earned a double-double with 10 rebounds. Jackson Hopps was good for 13 points, had 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. Jaqari Miles and Sean Woodson each put up 8 points, and JQ Strong scored 6 with 6 rebounds. 

Up Next: No. 15 Fullerton (20-3, 9-2) will play at Saddleback College on Wednesday, February 5th for a conference matchup. Tipoff is at 5:00 pm.