Hawks hammer Hope on O’Campo scoring

By Nick Pellegrino
Updated: January 7, 2023

2022-23 SAN DIEGO CHRISTIAN COLLEGE BASKETBALL

ECS staff report

FLETCHER HILLS — It could be argued San Diego Christian College needed to transverse the toughest pre-conference schedule among any school in the Golden State Athletic Conference.

Among the string of NCAA Division I opponents included: San Diego State, CSU Bakersfield, Grand Canyon, USD, UC Santa Barbara, CSU Fullerton and Cal Poly, plus D-2 Point Loma Nazarene.

By NAIA rules, such opponents don’t count against the win-loss record, but it’s still hard to get beaten almost every single night.

On Staurday (Jan. 7), those string of setbacks — 8 of them — finally paid dividends.

Josh O’Campo registered a game-best 22 points, leading the Hawks past visiting Hope International of Fullerton, 87-72, in GSAC action at Grossmont College.

San Diego Christian (3-5 overall, 2-5 GSAC) raced to a massive 40-20 halftime lead, coasting to the ballclub’s second GSAC triumph of the season. The Royals fell to 11-5 (4-3 FSAC).

HIU took 17 more shots than the Hawks, yet the attemptsat the foul line werealmost even. Thus, shooting percentage was the difference: SDCC shot 53.7 percent from the field, while Hope went a mere 37.1 percentage, making 20 offensive rebounds meaningless.

Six different Hawks scored in double digues.Along with O’Campo’s 22 points — his second straight season-high outing — the others were: Ausage Siamu (14), Greg Chew (13), Ryan Blackmon and Cameron Dashiell (11 each), plus Jonah Felix (10).

Talk about balanced scoring!

O’Campo went 7-for-17 from the floor, yet was 6-for-11 in the first half when he scored 16 of his points.

Meanwhile, all of the others were over .500 in field goal percentage, as San Diego Christian elected to forego the 3-point shot (sans O’Campo) and force the ball into the paint.

The Hawks opened the contest on a 10-2 run, then a trey by O’Campo made it 18-6 just 6:07 into the contest.

By the time the Royals reached double digits, they stilltrailed, 22-10, with the margin increasing throughout the first half, as SDCC went into theintermission on an 11-2 run.

The advantage reached 24 points (56-32) before the Hawks cleared the bench.

Chew also grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds tocomplete his double-double, while 8 different players registered assists for the Hawks.

Interestingly, O’Campo missed the Hawks’ first four ballgames against D-1 competition.

San Diego Christian returns home on Thursday, meeting The Master’s at Grossmont College starting at 7:30 p.m.

Women

Hope International 76, San Diego Christian 53

FLETCHER HILLS —The San Diego Christian College women’s basketball team saw their 2-game winning streak snapped Saturday (Jan. 7), falling to Hope International University, 76-53, in GSAC action at Grossmont College.

The Hawks held the advantage throughout the first quarter, securing a 19-15 lead. However, the rest of the afternoon went to the first-place Royals (13-3 overall, 6-1 GSAC).

Jeanette Fine paced Hope with 19 points and 9 rebounds, while Shiane Talley added 16 points.

The host Hawks saw only one starter score in double figures as Brianna Humphries had 14. Off the bench, Mamaeia Makoni tallied 11, just two points shy of her career high.

San Diego Christian returns home on Thursday, meeting The Master’s at Grossmont College starting at 5:30 p.m.

BALL