Giants men's basketball rolls past Porterville to set up showdown for CVC lead vs. Columbia

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

College of the Sequoias men's basketball team has set the stage for its biggest game of the season to date. 

Sole possession of first place in the Central Valley Conference – as well as important postseason seeding criteria – will be on the line when the state No. 6-ranked Giants (17-3, 6-0) take on No. 14 Columbia (16-4, 6-0) at 6 p.m. Jan. 29 at Porter Field House.

Both teams remained undefeated in CVC play on Jan. 25 as Sequoias rolled past Porterville 84-48 at home for its ninth straight win, while Columbia won its sixth straight game with a 100-57 blitzing of visiting Coalinga.

The Giants are aiming to win at least a share of their fifth straight CVC title under coach Dallas Jensen and sixth in a row overall. Columbia and Sequoias shared the CVC championship last season.

"Columbia is really, really good. They're very talented," Jensen said. "They have one of the best players (Rashaud Bradley) in the entire state of California. They are well coached (by Rob Hoyt). It's a big one. Especially us being at home, we need to try and figure out how to win that game and put ourselves in a position to potentially win another conference championship."

The Claim Jumpers are led by Rashaud Bradley, who averages 24.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game. 

Columbia also receives major contributions from EJ Campbell (14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists), Erick Chaney (14.7 points, 1.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists) and Ahsan Huff (10.6 points, 15.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists).

"I think there's things that maybe they do better than us and there's things we do better than them. I think it's actually a really, really even match up," Jensen said. "I think there's plenty of talent and athleticism and shooting and size on both ends of the floor. I think at the end of the day, it's going to come down to who guards it better and who values possession more. Columbia will be extremely ready to play us, and I think our boys will be ready as well. I think these are the games that, you know, young men want to play. And so I'm excited for our guys to have the opportunity to play in it."

Against Porterville, Tyree Gill (Sacramento) sank a 3-pointer off an assist from Raydon Thorson (Queen Creek, Ariz.) 44 seconds in for the first of his game-high 26 points to give Sequoias a lead it would never relinquish.

The Giants made 7 of their first 10 shots, including two 3-pointers each by Gill, Cameron Kelly (Decatur, Ga.) and Davis White (Santa Clarita) while storming out to a 20-7 lead.

Porterville would not get closer than 11 points down the rest of the way.

Sequoias closed the first half on a 15-2 run as it opened a 49-18 lead at halftime. It shot 56.3 percent (18 of 32) from the field, and an even better 57.1 percent (12 of 21) from 3-point range in the first half.

"Obviously our ability to shoot the basketball definitely opens up things and provides a little bit more energy and engagement on the defensive end," Jensen said. "I thought we shared it well, we guarded it well, we rebounded it well and we pushed where we could in transition. All around, outside of about a 2 or 3 minute spurt, I thought it was a really clean first half."

The second half, however, wasn't quite as efficient for the Giants, who shot 35.3 percent (12 of 34) from the field and 26.7 percent (4 of 15) from 3-point range.

Sequoias made only 1 of its first 9 shots in the second half as Porterville pulled within 30 (53-23).

The Pirates essentially kept pace with the Giants in the second half (getting outscored 35-30) but never got closer than a 28-point deficit.

"Second half I thought we came out slow. And our whole talk at halftime was just, you know, continuing to work on good habits for a full 40 minutes," Jensen said. "I didn't think we did that to start the second half. Porterville did a great job of controlling tempo and making it a half court game. And it just took us 5-6 minutes to kind of get back engaged and get back to who we are and doing the things that we're looking for. Once we did that, I thought we played fairly well."

Gill made 10 of 17 shots, including 5 of 10 3-pointers while also contributing two rebounds, an assist and a steal for Sequoias.

White finished with 14 points, four rebounds and two steals; Kelly had 12 points, five rebounds and a block; and Leyton McGovern (Anderson, Ind.) added 13 points, two rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block.

The Giants also got seven points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals from Jaden Haire (Hanford West); eight points and three rebounds from Kevin Anderson (Atlanta); four points and seven rebounds from Ahmad Clark (Atlanta); seven assists, three steals and two rebounds from Thorson; seven assists and two steals from Jayson Mathews (Sacramento); and two rebounds and an assist from Carter Glick (Mt. Whitney).

Sequoias hasn't lost since a 79-72 setback at Feather River on Dec. 13. 

Since then, the Giants are scoring 92.6 points a game and giving up 63.2, for an average margin of victory of 31.6 points per game.

"You want to start to hit your peak throughout conference play and riding into the postseason, and find the best version of yourselves," Jensen said. "I think over the last few years, we've been able to do that. And you know, I see glimpses of that right now with us as well. The nice thing is, even as well as we played tonight, I still think there's so much that we can clean up and be better at. So, you know, we just have to try to be a little bit better every single day, whether it's practice or a game."

Sequoias has only four wins against opponents ranked among the state's Top 30 teams by the California Community College Basketball Coaches Association, with its top conquest coming against No. 28 Allan Hancock.

That makes the looming showdown against Columbia even more important come NorCal Regional playoff seeding time.

"We need a statement win right now," Jensen said. "I like our conference. All the teams are very good. But I think this one could really go a long ways for us, not only in conference, but potentially in postseason seeding. I'm really excited to get back in the gym tomorrow and start to get ready for that game against Columbia."