State No. 6 Giants close in on CVC men's basketball title with 16th straight win

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

College of the Sequoias men's basketball team reduced to one its magic number for clinching no worse than a tie for a fifth straight Central Valley Conference championship with a 71-47 victory over West Hills-Lemoore on Feb. 4 at Porter Field House.

But even more important to Giants coach Dallas Jensen was the team's 16th consecutive victory -- tied with Yuba for the second-longest active streak in the state behind Fullerton's 17 straight -- with Northern California Regional playoff seeding looming in two weeks.

California Community College Men's Basketball Coaches Association state No. 6-ranked Sequoias improved to 21-3 overall and 10-0 in the CVC, three games ahead of second-place Fresno City and Columbia with four remaining.

"Obviously, we want to win conference. That's one of our big four goals on the season," Jensen said. "But at the end of the day, we know the value of every single game regardless of our lead in the conference or if it's tight. Everything right now plays a big role in where we'll be seeded and where we'll be in the playoffs. Yes, it's nice to have a couple game cushion. But we need to try to win every single time out to get as high a seed as possible. And that's all I'm concerned about."

After the Giants played dominating first halves of their past three games, West Hills-Lemoore (4-6, 11-13) kept this one close through the first 20 minutes. The Golden Eagles trailed by as little as one point (22-21) following a 3-pointer by DJ Torrence at the 3 minute, 22 second mark.

Sequoias, however, opened the second half with a 26-7 run to expand a seven-point lead into a commanding 26-point advantage at 59-33 with 9 minutes and 44 seconds remaining, capped by a basket from Terri Miller (Clovis North High).

The Golden Eagles would get no close than 20 points the rest of the way.

 "I thought Lemoore did a really good job of controlling the tempo. Their execution was really good," Jensen said. "I thought we played really good defense tonight. I just thought we looked a step slow. Our tempo looked slow, our decision making looked slow. It wasn't that we played bad, we were just a little slow." 

Javohn Garcia (Columbus, Ohio) led the Giants with 17 points, along with three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.

Tyjean Burrell (Sacramento) was Sequoias' only other player to score in double-figures, finishing with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds.

Miller had nine points, eight rebounds, three assists, three blocks and a steal.

Sequoias also received seven points and a rebound from Tre'von Martin (Las Vegas); six points, 11 rebounds and five blocks from Cameron Clark (Snellville, Ga.); six points, six rebounds and two assists from Tyree Gill (Sacramento); four points, eight rebounds, and assist and a steal from Jose Cuello (Harlem, N.Y.); four points, a rebound and a block from Omari Nesbit (Sacramento); two points, three rebounds and a steal from Alex Argandar (Modesto); two points and a steal from George Carter (Stockton); and a rebound and a block from Samuel Bazunga (Paris, France).

"I think we are playing really good basketball (overall,)" Jensen said. "Any conference win is a tough win. We're sitting at 10-0 right now in the conference, so I can't really complain too much. But at the end of the day, our hope is to get better every single time out. So, we don't really look ahead. We worry about going 1-0 every game and just making sure we're making progress and good strides."

The Giants can clinch at least a tie for the CVC title when they play at Porterville (12-12, 6-4) at 7 p.m. Feb. 8.

Sequoias will also play at West Hills-Coalinga (6-18, 0-10) at 6 p.m. Feb. 11; play host to Fresno City (17-5, 7-3) at 7 p.m. Feb. 11; and entertain Reedley (9-15, 3-7) at 7 p.m. Feb. 17 to close the regular season. Admission to games at Porter Field House is $8 general and $5 for seniors and students.

The Northern California Regional playoffs begin Feb. 22, with the Giants looking to make the Final Eight field for the fourth consecutive championship season.

Sequoias has won state titles twice: in 1953 and 1982.