Giants men's basketball makes it six straight with double digit defeat of Gavilan

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

After playing a trio of nail-biters, College of the Sequoias men's basketball team gave coach Dallas Jensen an early Christmas present Dec. 20 at Porter Field House.

A victory that wasn't in doubt during the game's final seconds.

The Giants, who are ranked No. 8 in the state by the California Community College Men's Basketball Association, took the lead for good midway through the first half and never looked back en route to a 75-61 defeat of Gavilan.

Sequoias (10-2) has won six straight games, the past three all decided by three points or fewer on its home court against unranked opposition.

"There's always room for growth, but that was much more of what I expect with this group," Jensen said. "And it was nice to get a double digit lead, and win by double digits."

The Giants won convincingly despite being without three key contributors in two-year starting guard Jose Cuello (Harlem, N.Y), forward Jaylon Lee (Las Vegas), who Jensen calls one of the best back-to-the-basket big men in the state; and reserve guard Mikey Ficher (Tulare Western High). Cuello and Ficher were out sick, while Lee has been dealing with a concussion and unavailable since scoring seven points and grabbing five rebounds in 10 minutes during a 100-44 home victory over Palo Verde on Dec. 5. 

All three are expected to play when Sequoias resumes its season at 4 p.m. Dec. 30 at Diablo Valley (4-7) following six days off for Christmas break.

"I was a little concerned coming in. We didn't have many options off the bench," Jensen said. "But honestly, I thought all nine guys, when their number was called, were ready to go and contributed to this win. I was so proud of everyone tonight."

Gavilan (5-8) --  which Jensen coached to a 51-8 record, two conference titles and two Northern California Regional playoff appearances in two seasons as coach between 2017-2019 -- got off to a quick start and led 15-10 on a Bricen Buciak 3-pointer at the 16:02 mark of the first half.

The Giants responded with a 12-0 run over the next 5:31, capped by a thunderous dunk from Jaden Haire (Hanford West) off an assist from Kion Hayes (Savannah, Ga.) to go ahead 22-15. Haire scored six of his team-leading 16 points during the run.

Sequoias led 35-29 at halftime.

A 3-pointer by Davis White (Santa Clarita) off an assist from Omari Nesbit (Sacramento) pushed the Giants' lead to double digits (42-31) with 18:36 remaining in the game.

Sequoias' lead grew as big as 18 points (63-45) with 9:32 left on a Hayes slam dunk following a steal and assist from Alex Argandar (Modesto). Gavilan never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

"Early on we were a little slow in our defensive rotations and we didn't rebound it particularly well in the first half early," Jensen said. "But I thought as the game went along we really did a good job of controlling tempo. We started rebounding well. We were really active on the defensive end, and we just valued possessions and got what we were looking for on the other end. So I thought it was a fairly complete second half." 

Haire grabbed a game-leading 13 rebounds and had four assists.

The Giants also received double digit scoring from White, who had 14 points, two rebounds, an assist and a block; and Argandar, who delivered 13 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals.

Nesbit finished with nine points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals; while Cameron Clark (Gwinnett, Ga.) had seven points, six rebounds, three blocks and two assists.

Coming off the bench, James Freeman (Las Vegas) contributed six points five rebounds, an assist and a steal; Carter Glick (Mt. Whitney) had six points two rebounds and two steals in his first action of the season; Hayes had two points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal; and Samuel Bazunga (Paris, France) had two points, a rebound, an assist and a steal.  

"If you had asked me a few weeks ago going into this four-game stretch at home how I thought we'd do, knowing that we'd be battling the flu bug, have a couple guys out. Even guys who were playing weren't themselves," Jensen said. "If you had told me we'd go 4-0, regardless of the score, I'd have taken that every day of the week. So I'm really happy with where we're at. I'm happy that we defended homecourt throughout December. I feel really, really good about the direction we're heading knowing there is still a lot of room for growth."

The next home game is set for 5 p.m. Jan. 4 against Hartnell (4-9) in the nitecap of a doubleheader with the Giants' state No. 18-ranked women's team (9-6), which faces Lassen (1-5) at 3 p.m.

Sequoias' men open defense of its Central Valley Conference title at 6 p.m. Jan. 10 on the road against state No. 15 Columbia (11-2).