Giants men's basketball lands No. 3 seed for NorCal Regional playoffs; host second-round game March 1
By Nick Giannandrea
COS ATHLETICS
A late hiccup didn't end up costing College of the Sequoias men's basketball team.
Despite a loss at Columbia during their regular season finale, the Giants were seeded third and guaranteed home court advantage throughout the Northern California Regional playoffs when pairings were announced by the California Community College Athletic Association on Feb. 23.
Sequoias (24-4) received a first-round bye and will host the winner between No. 14 (13) Cosumnes River (18-10) and No. 19 Mendocino (16-12) at 7:30 p.m. March 1 in a doubleheader with the college's women's team, which will play at 5:30 p.m.
Admission, as determined by the 3C2A, is $12 general admission and $8 for all identified students, faculty, staff, senior citizens age 60 and older, and children less than 12 years of age.
Playing at home is exactly what Giants coach Dallas Jensen was hoping for as his team is 12-0 at Porter Field House this season. Sequoias is 8-4 on the road and 4-0 when playing on a neutral court.
The Giants will be led into the postseason by several players who earned All-Central Valley Conference honors, including Defensive Player of the Year Raydon Thorson, a sophomore point guard fromQueen Creek, Ariz.
Sophomore wing/forward Jaden Haire (Hanford West), sophomore guard Tyree Gill (Sacramento), sophomore wing Davis White (Santa Clarita) and freshman guard Leyton McGovern (Anderson, Ind.) were named first-team All-CVC. Thorson and freshman wing/forward Cameron Kelly (Decatur, Ga.) were honorable mentions.
The CVC's All-Defensive team featured Haire, Gill and sophomore point guard Jayson Mathews (Sacramento).
McGovern was named the Freshman of the Year, with Kelly and guard Kevin Anderson (Atlanta) making the All-Freshman team.
Columbia sophomore guard Rashaud Bradley was the CVC's Most Valuable Player, while Fresno City's Rob Haynes was named the Coach of the Year.
Heading into their game at Columbia, Jensen said he wasn't sure if Sequoias would land a top-four seed, noting it would be a close call among the teams that ended up with the top five seeds.
Then the Giants went out and fell behind by 17 points in the first half en route to an eventual 93-85 CVC loss to the Claim Jumpers on Feb. 21.
But Sequoias -- winners of 16 of its past 17 games -- was bolstered by a resume that included the outright CVC championship and NorCal's No. 4 ranking in Winning Percentage Index (2.964) and Rating Percentage Index (.609), which factor into the seeding criteria. The Giants were ranked No. 6 overall and No. 3 among teams from NorCal in the final state rankings released Feb. 17 by the California Community College Men's Basketball Coaches Association.
San Francisco (27-1) was seeded No. 1, with No. 2 West Valley (25-3) and No. 4 Modesto (25-3) rounding out the top four.
San Francisco's only loss on the season was on the road against Coast-North Conference rival and fifth-seeded Las Positas (81-69) on Jan. 10. The Rams, who are ranked No. 1 overall in the state, avenged that loss at home (80-61) on Feb. 5.
San Francisco owns two head-to-head wins over West Valley (89-85 on Nov. 22 at West Valley and 80-76 on Dec. 21 on a neutral court), and one over Sequoias (78-56 on Dec. 6 in San Francisco).
On the other side of Sequoias' bracket, No. 11 (12) Yuba (20-8) will host No. 22 (23) Lassen (10-16) in the first round, with the winner advancing to play at No. 6 Santa Rosa (22-6).
CVC rivals Columbia (22-6) and Fresno City (18-10) were seeded No. 12 (11) and No. 16, respectively.
The NorCal Regional finals are scheduled for March 8.
The state's Elite Eight tournament will be March 13 and 15-15 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.
Sequoias has qualified for the Elite Eight in each of the previous five championship seasons and 18 times in program history.
The Giants were the state runner-up last season, losing 59-51 to West Valley in the final.
Sequoias is seeking the program's third state championship. The Giants won state titles in 1953 and 1982.
