By Greg Murphy
Butte College jumps to the #1 slot in the final COA/CCCWBCA North Region
Poll. They also land at #2 in the next-to-last State Poll behind Ventura
College, the #1 squad in South Region. Contra Costa swaps positions with
Butte to take third. Los Angeles Valley College and Mt. San Antonio
College tie for fourth.
Ventura clinched another Western State Conference North Division
championship after #21 Santa Barbara City College lost to them on
Wednesday and Oxnard College on Saturday. #15 Moorpark College moved into
second with a pair of wins. In South Division, LA Valley and #8 College
of the Canyons set themselves up for a title game of sorts on Wednesday as
they atop the standings.
In the COA Game of the Week for North Region, Butte traveled to #7 Lassen
College and won a close game, 74-72, to take a game-and-a-half lead in
Golden Valley Conference. Lassen was tripped by College of the Siskiyous
on Wednesday which took away some of the drama. The Butte-Lassen rematch
is Saturday night.
Despite a 67-61 loss to #14 College of Marin on Wednesday, Contra Costa
clinched a share of the Bay Valley Conference Bay Division title. Solano
Community College survived Los Medanos College to tie Marin for third.
Valley Division has #9 Sierra College maintaining a narrow lead over #11
San Joaquin Delta College. Delta fell from a tie for the lead after a
Tuesday home loss to Cosumnes River College, 70-67.
#12 Los Angeles Trade-Technical College maintained its hopes to catch Mt.
San Antonio in South Coast Conference North Division after winning its
game with Los Angeles City College. Cerritos continues to dominate South
Division with Los Angeles Southwest College in second.
#18 Orange Coast College defeated #16 Fullerton College, 59-50, to narrow
the gap between the two squads to a single game. Santa Ana College
clinched the Orange Empire Conference title with a 15-point win over
visiting Irvine Valley College.
The race for second continues in Coast Conference South Division after #13
San Jose City College clinched the title previously. College of San Mateo
lost to the champs on Friday night to fall into a tie with Hartnell
College. North Division's excitement runs thick for the championship race
with #16 Foothill and #19 Chabot colleges tied for that lead. Neither
group struggled in their pair of games.
Pacific Coast Conference found a share of its title being clinched by #20
San Diego Mesa College. Imperial Valley College cannot do worse than a
tie for second after they swept the week.
Merced College dropped its first conference game of the year as Reedley
College climbed into a tie with an 84-69 score. Reedley entered in the
state poll at #22 while Merced dropped into the realm of "also received
votes."
Foothill Conference gets set for its Shaughnessy Tournament. With one
game remaining, Rio Hondo is the favorite to take the regular season
championship and bypass the tourney. Chaffey College can get the top
tourney seed with a win on Monday.
The COA Games of the Week are a pair of showdown matches. In North
Region, Chabot travels to Foothill, Friday at 7:00 pm. The winner
clinches at least a share of the Coast Conference North Division title.
In South Region, LA Valley and Canyons settle WSC South Division on
Wednesday night in Van Nuys at 5:30 pm for South Region.
