By Greg Murphy
#3 Butte College and #4 Lassen College switch positions in this week's
COA/CCCWBCA State Poll. Otherwise, the top 5 teams remain the same with
Ventura College on top, Contra Costa College taking 2nd and Los Angeles
Valley College keeping a toehold on 5th.
Last week was as easy for Ventura as the prior week was tough in Western
State Conference North Division. The Pirates averaged more than a
50-point margin in their wins. #17 Moorpark College trailed Cuesta
College for most of their road game, but went home with a win to protect
third place. Santa Barbara maintains second. In South Division, LA
Valley and #9 College of the Canyons maintained their tie for first with a
pair of easy wins.
Contra Costa College all but clinched a playoff berth after defeating #22
Santa Rosa Junior College on Friday, 74-46. #15 College of Marin took
Solano Community College by a bucket to create a 3-way tie for 2nd in Bay
Valley Conference Bay Division. #8 San Joaquin Delta College jumped a
spot after a tough win over Sacramento City College on Wednesday. Sierra
College swept the week to maintain a tie for the Valley Division lead with
Delta and landed the top 10 spot.
Although Contra Costa ranks higher in the state, Lassen College once again
leads the North Region Poll. #23 Shasta College played it close with the
Cougars, but eventually fell by a score of 69-62. College of the Redwoods
nearly pulled off some huge upsets this season despite a single-digit win
total and played Lassen to a 6-point loss Saturday night. Butte College
defeated Shasta 75-54 to stay undefeated with Lassen in Golden Valley
Conference play.
On Wednesday the COA South Region Game of the Week pitted South Coast
Conference North Division leaders Mt. San Antonio College and Los Angeles
Trade-Technical College to complete the first half of division play. Mt.
SAC had home-court advantage and came away with a 67-56 victory. #6
Cerritos College continued its undefeated run through South Division with
wins over Long Beach City College and Los Angeles Harbor College. Los
Angeles Southwest College is in second but cannot take an automatic
playoff berth after forfeiting 5 nonconference games.
#12 San Jose City College became the first team to clinch an entry into
the playoffs as well as a championship on Wednesday. SJCC had a 6-game
lead in Coast Conference South Division with 5 games to play after an
ample win over Cabrillo College. #16 Foothill College marched to Chabot
College and came away with a tie for the North Division lead with #21
Chabot after a 76-63 win. Chabot nearly gave up its lead on Friday after
City College of San Francisco came 5 points from an upset over the top
defense in the state.
Santa Ana College completed its season sweep over 2nd place #14 Fullerton
College, 89-62 and moved ahead of Fullerton in the poll at #13. Santa Ana
has a 2-game lead in Orange Empire Conference with 4 games to play. #19
Orange Coast College moved into a tie for third with Cypress College after
Cypress lost to Santa Ana on Wednesday, 87-80.
Pacific Coast Conference had one day of play last week, but had the
biggest game of the season with #24 San Diego Mesa College traveling to
#23 Imperial Valley College. Imperial needed the home-court win to move
into a tie for first with Mesa, but Mesa won 63-60 on Friday night.
Palomar College defeated Southwestern College to tie those two squads for
third and keep Palomar's playoff hopes alive.
Central Valley Conference has parity this season, but it has fallen in
Merced College's favor as they remain undefeated. They reenter the State
Poll at #25 after wins over Taft College and Fresno City College. Reedley
College got attention in the poll with a pair of 40-plus point victories
and lies in second.
Foothill Conference Tournament's seedings became slightly clearer after
last week. Antelope Valley continues their narrow lead over Rio Hondo and
Chaffey colleges. The three schools are out of the reach of the rest of
the field after combining for a 5-0 week.
Through a quirk of scheduling, Golden Valley Conference leaders, #3 Butte
and #4 Lassen, have yet to meet this season. They will meet on the next 2
Saturdays. The first match is the COA North Region Game of the Week at
Lassen with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 pm. The winner has the inside
track to vie with Contra Costa for the top playoff seed in North Region.
South Region finds Antelope Valley College playing Rio Hondo for the
Foothill Conference lead. The game is Wednesday at 5:00 pm with Rio Hondo
playing host.
