Chargers Finish Second and Improve to .500

Starkey was named to the all-tournament team.

Cypress defeated Desert and Ohlone before losing to Chaffey again.

December 7, 2008

box score

El Cajon, Calif. – Cypress finished three straight games in El Cajon Sunday night finishing second in an eight team tournament. The Chargers defeated Desert 88-82 before beating Ohlone 61-59 and then lost to Chaffey in the championship game 97-85. Sophomore forward Sean Starkey was named to the all-tournament team averaging 15.7 points over the three games.

The Chargers started on the right foot with a six point win over Desert to move to the semifinals. Freshman guard Troy Baugh led Cypress with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman center John Staats led Cypress in scoring with 16 including four three-pointers. Freshman center Baron McCray was Cypress’s second double-double on the night with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Cypress pulled off a narrow win in the semifinals over Ohlone. Starkey led with 16 poitns while Staats followed with ten. Freshman guard Nick Becker and sophomore guard Justin Nguyen combined for 15 points and six assists.

The Chargers were looking for revenge in the championship game against Chaffey after losing to them earlier in the season in a 106-104 overtime loss. They were unable to pull it off ending the tournament in second. Starkey picked up six three-pointers and finished the night with 25 points. Sophomore forward Devon McDonald added 14 points with eight rebounds. Freshman guard Tim Austin rounded it out with ten points.

Cypress improves to 5-5 over the season and has a short break before heading to the Santa Barbara Tournament over the weekend. Cypress will start the first round with Grossmont. The Griffins are 1-7 coming off of an 86-80 loss to Desert in their own tournament. The two will meet up at Santa Barbara at 3:00 pm Thursday.