Pasadena City College to Start 2005 Leading COA

[ December 20, 2004 Poll ]

There was little change in the CCCWBCA State Poll on Monday. Pasadena, Riverside and San Jose maintained their respective top three ranks. Foothill and Antelope Valley swapped positions to give the Marauders fourth and Foothill fifth. With only 15 games this week and many voters on the road on Monday, the current poll will stand through January 2.

Pasadena City College made its second trip to a Hawaiian tournament in the last three seasons. In the two-day, partial round robin format, Pasadena swept club team Hawaii Stars and Jones County Junior College of Mississippi to be the only undefeated team of the four entrants.

Riverside met a slumping L.A. Southwest College, but Southwest had a decent night. Riverside still won, but Southwest looked good to lose by 16 to the second-ranked Tigers, 82-66.

San Jose City College and Foothill College met to decide who would end the year atop the North Region in the North Game of the Week. San Jose won the earlier matchup on the previous weekend and won again Friday.
Foothill scored 61 points against the Jag's 71.

Antelope Valley College had never won a tournament before this season. They hosted their annual event last weekend in hopes of taking their third championship in six weeks. Antelope Valley had a pair of double-digit wins to make the championship game. Imperial Valley College upset 13th-ranked Los Angeles Valley College 55-51 in the semifinal round and nearly pulled off a double in the championship game. The hosts prevailed 60-59. L.A. Valley was upset a second time in the third place game by a 56-46 score at the hands of Moorpark. Grossmont College improved their record to an impressive 8-3 in the consolation championship game.

Porterville started the Mendocino College Tournament with the best record in North Region at 8-1 and theiir first state ranking of the season at #19. Two days later, they had won their 2nd tournament in seven days and improved their ranking to #15. The weekend began with the two ranked teams matched, Porterville vs. #20 Contra Costa College. The Pirates advanced with a 66-59 result. Redwoods advanced on a bye, but were stopped in the semis by the champs, 90-61. Mission College advanced to the championship game by defeating Yuba College 61-49. Mission opened their season at home with Porterville and lost by nine. They did a little better on Sunday with Porterville prevailing 82-75. Mission earned its first-ever region and state rankings, debuting at #20 for California and #12 in North Region.

Orange Coast College's tournament had the most exciting final round of the week. The first game was a five point win for San Diego Mesa College over fellow Pacific Coast Conference foe Southwestern College, 55-50, for the consolation trophy. Cerritos College had their chances against Orange Coast, but could not break the Pirate lead as Orange Coast took third place, 55-52. Chaffey College was the only ranked team amongst the eight, but couldn't overcome El Camino in the final minutes. The buzzer sounded with the score El Camino 52, Chaffey 51. El Camino was rewarded with a big debut in South Region at #10 and is burning under the #20 position in the state poll. Chloe Grimm of El Camino was named MVP with 31 points, 31 rebounds and a double-double to her credit for the weekend.

Reedley College had played a sparse first month of the season, but picked up three wins at College of San Mateo's tournament. The long idle time preceding the weekend showed as they were nearly victims of Compton Community College in the first round as they won 67-62. Santa Monica College and Reedley nearly doubled their opponents in the semifinals.

Reedley showed the state that they were in form on Sunday by downing the Corsairs 88-71. San Mateo made it by Cabrillo by ten to take third place. Compton powered through the consolation side.

College of the Canyons played the toughest schedule of the week. The 10th-ranked Cougars were upset 79-78 on Wednesday at #15 Cypress College. #11 Ventura College lost at Canyons by another one-point margin, 75-74, in the South Region Game of the Week. Playing three tough games in four days may have played a role in Saturday's home loss to #6 Mt. San Antonio College in overtime, 80-74. As a result, Canyons and Mt. SAC stayed exactly where they started the week, at #10 and #6. The Ventura win kept Canyons above #12 Cypress. Ventura dropped to #13.

There aren't many single games scheduled for the next two weeks, but there are some of significance. The North Game of the Fortnight is Monday, December 20 with #5 Foothill hosting #8 Santa Rosa at 5:30 pm. The Southern counterpart has Canyons playing its fourth tough opponent in eight days. #2 Riverside travels to #10 Canyons with tip-off scheduled for 5:00 pm.

It isn't often when an eight-team tournament can beat out a 16-team bracket. the third-ranked San Jose City College is set to have six of the top ten squads in California vie for the title including #1 Pasadena.
There may be a preview of region and state final matchups on Monday-Wednesday, December 27-29.

Greg Murphy gregm@altair.csustan.edu