COS Men’s Basketball Playoff Update

By Nick Giannandrea

VENTURA - A virtual clinic in long-range shooting derailed an unexpectedly deep run by College of the Sequoias in the state men’s basketball playoffs.

Southern California second-seeded Citrus of Glendora made 13 3-point attempts while pulling away from the Northern California fourth-seeded Giants for a 70-59 victory in the quarterfinals of the California Community College Athletic Association Championships at Ventura College.

“They are here for a reason,” COS coach Rusty Smith said. “They are a very, very dangerous team. They can cause a lot of teams some problems.”

The Owls (25-6) caused COS (22-8) plenty of problems Thursday afternoon in a game that tipped off at 1 p.m.

Citrus entered shooting 34.6 percent from beyond the arc. Against the Giants, the Owls sank 44.8 percent of their 29 attempts.

And they were far from a one-man gang as Sam Gagliardi made 6 of 10, Colby Orr sank 2 of 4, Toby Okwuokei converted 1 of 3 and Jesse Elrod, a 6-foot-9 forward, hit 4 of 8.

“That’s what they can do,” Smith said. “I was hoping (Elrod) couldn’t bang it, but he did, too. If you have defensive lapses against a team that shoots that well, it’s tough.”

Citrus went 6 of 13 from the 3-point line in the first half while opening a 35-25 lead.

After switching to a zone defense at halftime, COS opened the second half on a 14-5 run - with TJ Givance and Tristan Forsyth each contributing four, that cut the Owls’ lead to one point (40-39) with 13:24 remaining in the game.

But Citrus responded with 3-pointers on five of its next eight baskets - including three from Gagliardi - to pull in front 61-47 with 4:08 left. The Owls made seven second-half 3-pointers.

“It was effective, then we had some defensive lapses and that’s when they banged the threes,” Smith said. “And offensively, we never got it going.”

COS wouldn’t get any closer than seven points the rest of the way.

“Any time you trades threes for twos, it’s tough to stay in the game,” said Giants guard Keshawn Gibbs, who scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds but was limited to 3 of 18 shooting after leading the Giants in scoring this season.

COS was paced by Givance, who had 15 points and seven rebounds. Bobby Santos and Mike Johnson each scored eight, followed by Jarell Holmes with six, Forsyth with four, Roy Salinas and Mike Johnson with three apiece and Dewayne Holmes with two.

Gagliardi’s 22 points led Citrus, which advances to winner between City College of San Francisco and Santa Monica at either 1 or 3 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals.

After opening the season 7-7, the Giants rebounded by winning 15 of their next 16 games while placing second in the Central Valley Conference. COS rode an eight-game winning streak into the 14th Elite Eight appearance in school history for the men’s team. COS last won a state title in 1982.

“I feel we had a great season,” Gibbs said. “We started off rough but we ended up making a pretty good run.”

Gibbs, a sophomore from Atlanta, was one of 10 new players that Smith and his staff -- Andrew Yonan, Bud Werner, Ty McCord and Tommy Lu -- had to meld with two returning reserves from last season (Givance and Johnson) and a returning redshirt (Garrett Shelton).

Smith recruited players from near (Tulare Western High’s Deeandre Hulett, Corcoran’s Salinas and Hanford West’s Johnson) and far (Santos from San Jose, Dewayne Holmes from Temecula, Elihu Cobb from Santa Maria, Jarell Holmes from Atlanta, Forsyth from Australia and Julian Mincey from Massachusetts) who helped the Giants reach the Elite Eight for the second time in the past four seasons.

“There was no way at the beginning of the season that I thought we’d end up in this position,” Smith said. “We had hopes if this, this and this happened. These guys came together and performed at a high level and did a great job.”

During a ceremony Thursday morning, former COS standout John Bynum was elected to the California Community College Men’s Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Bynum, who prepped at Mt. Whitney, was a two-time all-Central Valley Conference and all-state player for the Giants before moving on to Metropolitan State in Denver and a professional career in Europe.

Bynum scored more than 1,000 points and amassed more than 500 rebounds and 400 assists during his two seasons at COS.

He averaged 16.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game in his sophomore season, finishing in the top 10 in the state with a field goal percentage of 59.1.

Now retired from a 12-year pro career, Bynum is employed at Shoot 360 Basketball and is manager of the Signal the Light basketball website.