#1 Triumphs Over #2

[ Poll, Week of 2/2/04 ]

Last Wednesday, #1 Mt. San Antonio College traveled to undefeated #2 Pasadena City College in the South Region Game of the Week. Pasadena's defense took control of the first half to leave by seven, holding the Mounties to 23 points. Mt. SAC came back to be up by three points with under a minute remaining. A pair of free throws drew Pasadena to a point away with 40 seconds remaining. Mt. San Antonio failed to score on their next possession, giving PCC a shot at the lead. Mt. SAC stopped them and added a free throw in the final seconds for a 56-54 win and the solo lead in South Coast Conference North Division. Pasadena retained their #2 spot by a single point in this week's poll. On Friday, Cerritos College and El Camino College played for the outright lead of South Division. Cerritos avoided an upset with a 55-46 victory and moved up to #13 in the state.

#20 Moorpark College attempted to draw #3 Ventura College into a tie for the Western State Conference North Division lead. Moorpark had an off night, dropping the contest 77-46. Ventura stayed at #3 while Moorpark dropped out of the state poll. WSC's first round ended on Friday with L.A. Valley College and College of the Canyons playing the Moorpark and Ventura roles in South Division, respectively. L.A. Valley was more fortunate than the Raiders and held Canyons state-leading offense to their second-lowest score of the season in a 59-53 win. Canyons clung onto #7 and Valley nipped a rung upwards to #17.

#4 Sierra College leads the North Region poll, but was nearly clipped at Cosumnes River College, 71-66. Sierra leads the Bay Valley Conference Valley Division standings. Bay Division is led by #11 Santa Rosa Junior College, ranked behind second-place #5 Contra Costa College and Valley Division's #10 San Joaquin Delta College. None of those teams were challenged last week and all maintain last week's ranking.

Central Valley Conference continued its close race last week. Fresno City College fell two points short of keeping their conference title hopes alive on Wednesday, dropping a 72-70 decision to Reedley College. College of the Sequoias dropped a half-game behind #6 Merced College and #9 Reedley from having a bye on Saturday. Fresno had Merced at home that night, but the Blue Devils prevailed by a score of 69-51.

Barstow College had a decent game against Foothill Conference leader Chaffey College despite a 73-58 loss. #9 Antelope Valley College is one-half of a game behind Chaffey after a pair of dominant wins and moved to #8, nearly overtaking Canyons in the poll.

Shasta College kept their second place position in Golden Valley Conference alive in a 74-68 victory over College of the Siskiyous. That kept Shasta a game up on Lassen College and two behind #12 Butte College. None of the other five scores played within 20-point margins.

The only thing that has stopped Cypress College since the first day of Orange Empire Conference is a gas leak in their gym on Wednesday. The postponement allowed Riverside Community College to halve the lead. Neither team were state-ranked two weeks ago, but they occupy the top two positions in the conference. This week, Cypress climbs to #15 and Riverside enters the rankings at #20. The only OEC team ranked higher is #14 Fullerton College. Cypress came out on top over Fullerton on Friday in a 56-55 road win, splitting their season series and avoiding a 3-way tie for first. Riverside had a tough week, but earned two hard-fought wins over Saddleback College (58-56) and Orange Coast College (74-62).

City College of San Francisco voyaged to Foothill College to break the Coast Conference North Division tie for the lead in the North Region Game of the Week. CCSF was ranked #14, but Foothill snared a 62-55 Friday win. San Jose City College leads South Division with #18 Ohlone College a game back. Neither team were particularly troubled in last week's contests.

Palomar College took the outright lead in Pacific Coast Conference play on Saturday. The tiebreaking score was a convincing 75-57 win over Imperial Valley College. Southwestern took control of third, 73-60 above Grossmont College.

North Region Game of the Week:
Sequoias will attempt to sweep their home-and-home series at Merced on Saturday, February 7 at 6:00 pm.

South Region Game of the Week:
The two remaining undefeated teams in Foothill Conference's schedule will meet Monday, February 2 at 5:00 pm. #8 Antelope Valley will host Chaffey College.

Greg Murphy gregm@altair.csustan.edu