at Riverside City College Tigers 75, Fullerton College Hornets 72 (Orange Empire Conf.)

RIVERSIDE – Surviving a foul-plagued second half, the host Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers men's basketball team outlasted the visiting Fullerton College Hornets, 75-72, in an Orange Empire Conference contest Wednesday evening at the newly renovated Wheelock Gymnasium.

Riverside City (13-5, 3-0 OEC) never trailed as it jumped out to a first-half margin of 18-8 and a big lead of 24-12 at 6:12 before settling for a 34-26 halftime lead.

In the second half, Fullerton (10-8, 2-1 OEC) caught RCC at 41-all with 13:24 on a 16-foot jumper from sophomore guard Jason Payne (Irvine / Woodbridge HS). Then the Tigers regrouped and went on a 14-3 run (over a span of 4:37), thanks to three-pointers from freshman forward Jeff Gonzalez (Riverside Poly HS), sophomore guard Joses Franklin (Ramona HS) and freshman guard Kendall Schmidt (Moreno Valley / Rancho Verde HS) to keep Fullerton at bay, for the most part.

But with a total of 55 personal fouls in the game (30 by Fullerton), including 37 in the second half (21 by Fullerton), and Riverside making only 14 of 36 (38.9%) free throws in the final 20 minutes gave Fullerton a chance to stay close. A layin by the Hornets right before the buzzer made the final score cosmetically close.

For Riverside, sophomore forward Shannon Fowler (Eisenhower HS) led the Tigers with 16 points, while sophomore guard Mason Biddle (Arlington HS) added 11 points and a game-high six assists. Schmidt added nine points and a co-game-high seven rebounds.

For Fullerton, sophomore guard Julian Caldwell (Ontario / Colony HS) poured in a game-high 20 points and added a team-high five assists.

Both teams resume OEC action on Friday, Jan. 18, at 7:30 p.m. when Fullerton visits the Saddleback College Gauchos and Riverside visits the Santa Ana College Dons.