NO. 1 HORNETS RUN THROUGH CYPRESS

The No. 1 Hornets continued their dominant run through conference play on the road Friday night knocking off inter-district and Orange Empire Conference rival Cypress College 69-52.

After the January 19th CCCMBCA poll came out, the Hornets found themselves in the top spot at No. 1 in the state rankings after San Francisco stumbled against West Valley 64-56.

With the victory, Fullerton improves to 17-1 overall and is 4-0 in the OEC. Cypress falls to 10-8 overall and is now 3-1 in the conference standings.

Fullerton set the tone early and never looked back racing out to a commanding 40-15 halftime lead that was led by Brayden Smith's 15 points and Bishop Brooks' 11. FC controlled the tempo on both ends of the floor turning stops into points and putting the Chargers on their heels from the opening tip.

In the second half, the Hornets cooled their jets a bit but maintained the lead thanks to an additional 12 points by Brooks.

Freshman guard Bishop Brooks led the way scoring a game-high 23 points catching fire from beyond the arc going 6-10. Brayden Smith finished with 16 points with 6 rebounds, while Trey Thompson scored 10 with 3 rebounds and 4 steals. MJ Smith put up 8 points and Yoda Oke dropped in 7 with 5 boards.

Up Next: The No. 1 Hornets (17-1 overall, 4-0 OEC) have a tall order to fill this Thursday, January 22nd when the team travels to No. 10 Santiago Canyon College (15-3, 4-0) a huge OEC showdown. Tipoff is at 6:00 pm.

*Photo by Jim McCormack