By Greg Murphy
Ventura College survived the 13th week of the season and remains the
unanimous top-ranked college in this week's COA/CCCWBCA State Poll.
Contra Costa College broke out of its tie for third to take the #2
ranking. Lassen College fell to third by a single point while Butte
College dropped to 4th. Los Angeles Valley College stayed at #5.
Ventura had its most dangerous week of the Western State Conference North
Division with trips to #17 Moorpark College and #25 Cuesta College.
Ventura topped Moorpark 56-52 in the COA South Region Game of the Week.
The loss kept Moorpark below #19 Santa Barbara City College in the
standings. Cuesta had Ventura's lead down to one point with under 30
seconds left in regulation on Friday night and were on the line to tie the
game, but missed. Ventura made four subsequent free throws to head for
home with a 52-47 victory. In South Division, LA Valley and College of
the Canyons mowed through their games to stay in a tie for the division
lead. West Los Angeles College won at Santa Monica College on Wednesday,
62-56, then swept the week with a win over Bakersfield College to move
into third place.
The COA North Region Game of the Week had the top two squads of Bay Valley
Conference playing for top-10 survival. San Joaquin Delta College used
its home-court advantage to take a 75-66 victory into a #9 ranking while
Sierra fell into a tie for the division lead with Delta and maintained a
#11 ranking. Contra Costa increased its Bay Division lead to two games
after Solano Community College upset #20 Santa Rosa City College 57-51 on
Friday night. Solano moved into a tie for 2nd with Santa Rosa.
Butte (5-0) and Lassen (4-0) remain undefeated in Golden Valley
Conference. Lassen had a 28-point win over Feather River College. Butte
had two wins, the closest being 76-60 over College of the Redwoods on
Saturday.
#6 Cerritos College and Los Angeles Southwest College met in what looks to
be the first of two games to decide the South Coast Conference South
Division title. Southwest played tough, but fell to the Falcons 71-61.
Pasadena City College gave #10 Los Angeles Trade-Technical quite a time,
but missed an upset by a 13-point margin. Trade-Technical remained tied
for first in North Division with #7 Mt. San Antonio College.
#18 Orange Coast College gave Orange Empire Conference-leading #14 Santa
Ana College its closest game, but Santa Ana (8-0) stayed undefeated,
63-62. #12t Fullerton College became the clear second-place team after a
pair of wins over third-place Cypress College plus Irvine Valley College.
Coast Conference still has #21 Chabot College as its only undefeated team.
They are a game up on #16 Foothill College in North Division. The closest
game of the four they played was a 71-60 win by Foothill over City College
of San Francisco. #12t San Jose City College has a 5-game lead in South
Division. Hartnell College defeated Monterey Peninsula College on
Wednesday to nab 2nd place for now, 65-49.
Pacific Coast Conference completed its first round with #24 San Diego Mesa
College in the lead. #23 Imperial Valley College and Southwestern College
were tied for second going into Friday's match between the two at
Southwestern. Imperial Valley won 66-47 giving Southwestern an uphill
route to an automatic qualifying spot.
The Foothill Conference race became muddled after Antelope Valley College
fell at Chaffey College in overtime, 65-64. Rio Hondo College joins them
with a single loss in conference play, though was nearly upset by San
Bernardino Valley College on Wednesday, 60-56.
It is a down season for Central Valley Conference, but that has not
lessened the excitement. Merced College maintains a slim lead over
Reedley College in the standings after both had a bye and a win last week.
The COA South Division Game of the Week has #10 LA Trade-Technical
traveling to #7 Mt. San Antonio College to break their SCC division tie.
The victor will have an inside track to a coveted top four seed in the
playoffs. The North Region Game of the Week has #16 Foothill College
trying to create a tie for the Coast Conference North Division lead with
#21 Chabot College.
