Giants close in on CVC men's basketball title with win over rival Fresno City

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

College of the Sequoias men's basketball team is on the verge of clinching a sixth straight Central Valley Conference championship.

The state sixth-ranked Giants moved one win away from securing no worse than a tie for the CVC title following a 77-63 victory over rival Fresno City on Feb. 12 at Porter Field House.

With three conference games remaining, Sequoias (22-3, 11-0) leads second-place Columbia (19-6, 9-2) by two games and the Rams (15-10, 8-3) by three games. 

The Giants can clinch the 24th conference title in program history with a win at home against Merced (12-13, 5-6) in a game scheduled for 5 p.m. Feb. 15. Sequoias beat the Blue Devils 95-65 on Jan. 22 in Merced during the first round of CVC play.

The Giants will be outright CVC champions with wins in two of their three remaining regular season games, which also includes road trips to Porterville (8-17, 4-7) at 7 p.m. Feb. 19, and state No. 14 Columbia (19-6, 9-2) at 6 p.m. Feb. 21. They beat both teams at home by margins of at least 36 points during the first half.

"We have an extremely tough game to close out conference at Columbia. That's one of the toughest places to win in Northern California, if not the state," Sequoias coach Dallas Jensen said. "But I think it's the same thing we've been doing since our first game against Coalinga when conference first started. We are just trying to win one game at a time, and worry about the opponent that's ahead of us. Hopefully we can do the things we're supposed to do come (Feb. 15). If we can handle Merced here, that will give us another conference championship, and it will be fun to celebrate that on our home floor."

After giving Sequoias a scare in a 77-72 Giants' win during the first round of CVC play in Fresno on Jan. 18, the Rams had a near capacity crowd at Porter Field House stunned early on during the rematch.

Fresno City bolted out to a 12-4 lead as Sequoias missed six of its first eight shots, committed two turnovers and one foul through the first 7 minutes and 17 seconds.

The Giants took their first lead of the game (15-14) on a pair of free throws by Leyton McGovern (Anderson, Ind.) with 6:56 remaining in the first half.

The lead would change hands three times before Sequoias took the lead for good (19-18) on thunderous dunk by McGovern off an alley oop pass from Jaden Haire (Hanford West) with 3:32 left before halftime.

Sequoias led 27-23 at the break after struggling from 3-point range, making only 2 of 13 attempts in the first half.

"Fresno is playing really good basketball right now. I think they have the pieces to actually make a deep run in the postseason," Jensen said. "I think they are a really scary out. They came in and played really hard. Coach (Robert) Haynes had a great game plan against us. We came out and obviously didn't shoot it particularly well early on. I don't think we were as active on the glass. But the thing that kept us in it the majority of the first half is we guarded it well. That gave us just enough confidence as we went into half and finally got a lead, and we got rolling a little bit in the second half."

The Giants opened the second half with consecutive 3-pointers by Tyree Gill (Sacramento) and Davis White (Santa Clarita) while pushing their lead to 10 points (33-23).

Sequoias' lead grew as large as 14 points (61-47) on a 3-pointer by Gill with 5:55 left in the game.

Fresno City got within eight points (69-61) with 40 seconds left on a basket by Yaya Sidibe, but Jayon Mathews (Sacramento) made 4 of 4 free-throw attempts and Gill converted two baskets in the final 33 seconds to help the Giants hold on.

After shooting 40.7 percent (11 of 27) from the field in the first half, Sequoias converted 54.5 percent (18 of 33) of its show in the second half while outscoring the Rams 50-40 after the break.

"The difference in the first half to the second half is we were making shots," said Haire, who finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a block.

White finished with 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and a steal to lead Sequoias to its 14th straight win, the longest active streak among the 47 teams in the Northern California Region. Modesto can win its 14th straight game on Feb. 13 when it plays American River.

"It was a big win," White said. "We wish we could have protected our home court a little more, though. It was a shaky ending. But I'm proud of our guys for getting it done. We've just got to finish games better."

Gill contributed 17 points, six rebounds, four blocks and two assists, while the Giants' starting five also saw Cameron Kelly (Decatur, Ga.) produce three points, four rebounds, two assists and a block; and Raydon Thorson (Queen Creek, Ariz.) put up one point, three rebounds, three assists and a steal.

Off the bench, McGovern finished with 12 points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal; Mathews had four points, four assists and a steal; and Kevin Anderson (Atlanta) added two points, an assist and a steal.

"It's always a great win against a rivalry team," Haire said. "The atmosphere was electric. We honestly didn't close the way we should have, but it's obviously another win for us."

Sequoias is looking to build a resume strong enough to land a top-four seed for the Northern California Regional playoffs, which begin Feb. 26. Top four seeds are guaranteed home games through the regional finals on March 8.

The state's Elite Eight tournament – which the Giants have qualified for in each of the past five championship seasons – is scheduled for March 13 and 15-16 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.