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How the
Mighty Hath Fallen, or Maybe Not
[ Poll,
Week of 12/15/03 ]
This week's lesson: if you
are the #1 team by a wide margin and have to lose, make it to an unranked team.
Despite losing to a surging Moorpark College, Mt. San Antonio College remains
the top squad in COA. The remaining undefeated teams are #2 Sierra College (9-0)
and #4 Pasadena City College (10-0). Ventura College held onto its #3 ranking
while Merced College dropped to fifth in this week's CCCWBCA State Poll.
The score that shocked the
state: Moorpark 81, Mt. San Antonio 69. Moorpark had been looking for respect.
It had fallen short in some recent games, but came to full bloom in the semifinals
of their tournament. On the strength of that win alone, Moorpark entered the
South Region Poll at #12. Many had speculated that Mt. SAC would go undefeated
this season after their demolition at Ventura College's tournament two weeks
ago, but cracks started to show the following week at College of the Sequoias'
Gilcrest Invitational. By the way, there was a final round. Ventura had an easier
time with Moorpark, 86-65, for the championship. Mt. SAC recovered to defeat
Antelope Valley, 59-41, for third place. Santa Monica College scored 62 points
to Los Angeles Valley College's 55 for the consolation side.
Pasadena City College's
Rose City Classic had two possibilities for a marquee matchup in the champsionship
game of the Tournament of the Week, either undefeated Irvine Valley College
vs. undefeated Pasadena or #6 College of the Canyons against #7 Pasadena. Canyons
got the nod after sprinting through Irvine Valley 93-49. The championship was
well-earned with a narrow 77-73 win by the home team, Pasadena. Canyons only
dropped a single spot in the poll with Pasadena's leap to #4.
San Joaquin Delta College
coaches and players were quoted in the press as wanting to win their 6th-year
tournament for the first time. Being ranked #17 with #4 Merced as a probable
final-round opponent whose only loss was to then-undefeated #1 Mt. San Antonio,
the goal was a long shot. Foothill narrowly missed derailing Delta in the semifinal,
69-68, setting up a Merced-Delta final. It was another one-point game, 67-66
- Delta did it again for the second-straight night and achieved their goal.
Voters gave Delta the biggest move upwards in the poll, six spots to #11. Merced
fell one notch. Foothill had a squeaker for third place, 69-66 over Santa Barbara
City College.
Contra Costa College was
also defeated by an unranked team. Fresno City College surprised the Comets
55-53 in the semifinals of the East Bay Classic held at Merritt College. In
the championship game, Fresno took San Jose City College in a milder upset,
68-65. Fresno was rewarded with a #17 entry into the state poll. Contra Costa
dropped a spot to #6 after finishing 3rd, in part to boost Pasadena. Lassen
College defeated Los Medanos 64-59 to end the consolation bracket.
Yavapai College, a full-ride
scholarship NJCAA team from Arizona, defeated both Saddleback College and Fullerton
College to take the Allan Hancock College tourney title. Fullerton gave Yavapai
a challenge in the title game before falling 58-50. Fullerton maintained its
#8 ranking and third-place Saddleback did the same at #13. College of the Sequoias
earned the consolation trophy.
Santa Rosa Junior College
and City College of San Francisco were tied for 20th in last week's state poll
and met in the championship game of Santa Rosa's tourney on Saturday. Santa
Rosa left no doubt as their defense took them to a 71-47 win. SRJC rose to a
#16 ranking. Shasta College defeated Cosumnes River and American River colleges
for third.
Southwestern and Cuyamaca
colleges hosted 4-team tournaments over the weekend. Southwestern has shown
marked inprovement lately and it led them to average 21-point wins for their
own title. Los Angeles City College went against Cerro Coso College which only
had one loss on the season, but still won by a score of 73-57.
The first conference game
was held last week. Chaffey took the early lead in Foothill Conference with
a victory over Barstow in the South Region Game of the Week, 71-56. The northern
version came down to the final moments with College of the Siskiyous prevailing
on Yuba's floor, 70-68.
Tournament of the Week:
College of San Mateo hosts #2 Sierra College and #9 Reedley College in their
8-team tournament. Reedley could get the chance to end Sierra's undefeated record
in the championship game on December 21 at 3:00 PM.
Games of the Week:
Lower ranked teams are looking for upsets in this week's State Games of the
Week. At #11-North Foothill, Ohlone risks their #14 state ranking Wednesday
at 5:30 pm. Down south on Saturday, Wednesday, #4 Pasadena will travel to the
team they missed in their championship bracket, #20 Irvine Valley. Tip-off is
scheduled for 6:00 PM.
Greg Murphy gregm@altair.csustan.edu
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