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Mt. San
Antonio Dropped by #13 Cerritos, Remains #1
[ Poll,
Week of 2/9/04 ]
South Coast Conference delayed
the end of its interdivisionals until last Wednesday. As it so happened, that
included a game between the top teams in its two divisions, #1 Mt. San Antonio
College at #13 Cerritos College. Cerritos forced overtime at the buzzer, then
nailed a trey at the overtime buzzer to upset the Mounties 89-86. Mt. SAC's
lead narrowed in this week's poll, but stayed atop the ranking mountain. As
SCC interdivision games are not included in division standings, Mt. SAC is still
a game ahead of #2 Pasadena City College. Perhaps the biggest poll surprise
this week was Cerritos staying at #13.
#17 Los Angeles Valley College
took the outright lead in Western State Conference South Division by vitrue
of #7 College of the Canyons having a bye. Canyons has the easier path to the
title after defeating Santa Monica College 88-77 on Wednesday. L.A. Valley played
at #3 Ventura College on Saturday in a BBQ fundraiser for the Pirates. Ventura
ended L.A. Valley's 8-game winning streak, 90-68, while extending their own
COA-leading 15-game win streak. A day earlier, Moorpark College completed a
sweep of Santa Barbara City College to make them the favorite to finish in the
top two in North Division along with leader Ventura.
Little changed in Bay Valley
Conference standings. #10 Santa Rosa Junior College continues to lead #5 Contra
Costa College by a game after both handily won a pair of contests. #4 Sierra
College is ranked atop North Region and is a game above #11 San Joaquin Delta
College in Valley Division. Napa Valley caused some concern with Sierra in an
87-73 Superchiefs defeat.
A Reedley College bye lifted
#6 Merced College to a half-game lead in Central Valley Conference. Merced ended
the week by avoiding being swept by College of the Sequoias, 74-42, in the North
Region Game of the Week. The Giants played #8 Reedley to open the week and lost
82-69, most likely cutting the title contenders to Merced and Reedley.
Antelope Valley College
and Chaffey College had played 17 Foothill Conference games without a loss.
They met on Monday for the South Region Game of the Week to stake their claim
towards the conference championship. Host Antelope Valley scored a decisive
80-59 win, although stepped down to #9 in the state poll. Antelope Valley widened
their lead after Chaffey was badly upset by San Bernardino Valley College on
Wednesday, 97-62.
Shasta College met #12 Butte
College to give Butte a race in the Golden Valley Conference, but Butte was
too much Saturday night with a 79-49 score. Butte has a magic number of two
for the title. College of the Siskiyous helped Shasta's cause to finish in the
top two after downing Lassen College 81-77, drawing COS into a 3rd-place tie
with Lassen.
#14 City College of San
Francisco stayed arm's length behind Coast Conference North Division leader
Foothill College after both collected a couple of wins last week. District rival
De Anza College nearly upset the Foothill Owls, 61-57. #18 Ohlone College avenged
San Jose City College 80-56 to tie for the South Division lead with 4-1 records.
Only champions get automatic playoff berths this season. A championship is all
the more important.
Riverside Community College
handed Cypress its first loss since the opening day of Orange Empire Conference.
The 20-point win, balanced with a 15-point loss to Irvine Valley on Wednesday
kept Riverside ranked #18, half a game behind Cypress who dropped a spot to
#16. A 68-55 Fullerton loss to Saddleback put them a game and a half behind
first place.
Pacific Coast Conference
only played one day last week. Palomar College's sweep of its five rivals nearly
came to an end when fifth place San Diego Mesa College played them close, 61-55.
Imperial Valley College remains a game back with a 77-50 victory over Grossmont
College.
North Region Game of the
Week:
Reedley host Merced in a contest that could determine the Central Valley Conference
champion on Wednesday, February 11 at 6:00 pm.
South Region Game of the
Week:
Moorpark College could just about solidify a playoff spot by avoiding a season
sweep at Cuesta College, Friday, February 13 at 5:30 pm.
Greg Murphy gregm@altair.csustan.edu
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