COS men's basketball routs West Hills; Giants women roll past Taft
Not only is the Central Valley Conference championship within reach for College of the Sequoias men's basketball team, it's under the Giants' control.
Sequoias remains one game out of the conference lead following a 100-48 rout of West Hills-Coalinga on Feb. 17 at Porter Field House.
The state No. 14-ranked Giants (21-5, 9-3) are tied for second place with No. 17 Columbia (21-5, 9-3) behind CVC-leading and No. 24-ranked Fresno City (17-9, 10-2).
Sequoias plays at 5 p.m. Feb. 21 at Fresno City and at 5 p.m. Feb. 23 at Reedley (6-18, 2-10) to close the regular season.
If the Giants are able to win out, they would do no worse than tie either Fresno City or Columbia for a third straight CVC title.
They would share with Fresno City by winning both remaining games and the Rams winning at Columbia on Feb. 23. They would share with Columbia if both teams win out, including the Claim Jumpers' home game Feb. 21 against No. 27 West Hills-Lemoore (17-8, 7-5).
More: 'Step in the right direction': College of the Sequoias cruise to win over Columbia hoops
Sequoias would win the title outright if it wins out combined with Columbia losing to West Hills-Lemoore and beating Fresno City.
The Rams have won six straight since their last loss, 79-62, against the Giants on Jan. 27 in Visalia.
"They are playing really, really good basketball at the right time of the year," Sequoias coach Dallas Jensen said of Fresno City. "That's a tough environment to play in. So we've just got to go in and worry about ourselves and try to be the best version of who we are. And hopefully after 40 minutes, we'll have a few more points than them."
The Giants are starting to play good basketball, too, as the postseason nears.
Sequoias has won five straight games — all by a margin of nine points or more — after losing three games by one score during the first half of CVC play: 83-80 in overtime to Columbia, 69-67 to Merced and 64-63 to Reedley.
"I really like how we're playing," Jensen said. "We're very sound defensively. We're rebounding it really well. We're playing tough and physical and sharing the basketball on the other end. We just have to continue to play to our strengths and hopefully bounces will go our way and we'll get that one done on (Feb. 21)."
The latest conquest saw the Giants trade baskets with West Hills-Coalinga (7-18, 1-11) through the game's first 6 minutes before a jumper by Jose Cuello (Harlem, N.Y.) put them ahead to stay at 10-9.
Omari Nesbit (Sacramento) sank three 3-pointers during a 14-2 Sequoias' run that saw it go from a 9-8 deficit to a 22-11 lead with 10 minutes and 54 seconds left in the first half.
The Giants' lead swelled to 24 points (46-22) with 9 seconds left in the first half on a dunk by Cameron Clark (Gwinnett, Ga.) off an assist by Alex Argandar (Modesto).
Sequoias continued expanding its lead throughout the second half until it hit its zenith at 54 points (94-40) following a pair of free throws by Jaden Haire (Hanford West) with 2:16 left in the game.
"Since playoffs are coming up, we had to step it up," Nesbit said. "We weren't so laid back in this game. We wanted to beat them by a lot."
On a night the Giants honored sophomores Nesbit, Cuello, Argandar, Clark, Jaylon Lee (Las Vegas) and Samuel Bazunga (Paris, France), all contributed against the Falcons.
More: 'Can't get this loss back': COS men's and women's fall to Reedley in basketball
Nesbit scored a game-leading 20 points to go along with two assists, a rebound, a block and a steal.
Cuello contributed 19 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal; Clark had 12 points, nine rebounds, four steals and a block; Lee had nine points, 15 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals; Argandar had five points, 10 assists and four steals; while Bazunga had four points and four rebounds.
Sequoias also received 11 points and three rebounds from Haire; 10 points, five rebounds and two assists from Kion Hayes (Savannah, Ga.); six points, two rebounds, an assist and a steal from Davis White (Santa Clarita); and four points, four assists, three steals and three rebounds from Mikey Ficher (Tulare Western).
"It was fun to let our sophomores play together for longer stretches tonight and see them do well and enjoy their time on the floor," Jensen said. "And the guys that were coming off the bench were fantastic tonight, good energy, being good teammates, and they were ready when their number was called. All around it was a really good performance on both ends and by everybody that stepped onto the floor."
The Giants are poised to be selected to the Northern California Regional playoff field for the sixth consecutive championship season when pairings are announced Feb. 25.
With the third-best Winning Percentage Index and fourth-best Rating Percentage Index among teams in NorCal, a top-four regional seed as well as the first-round bye, and potential two home games that come with it, remains a possibility for Sequoias.
The Giants have made the state's Elite Eight in the last four championship seasons.
COS women roll past Taft
College of the Sequoias' women's basketball team has moved a step closer to securing an 11th consecutive berth in the postseason.
The Giants rolled past Taft 75-57 in a Central Valley Conference game Feb. 17 at Porter Field House to become one of 13 teams in Northern California with at least 18 wins heading into the last week of the regular season.
The NorCal Regional playoffs will be announced Feb. 25 and Sequoias (18-8 overall and 8-2 in the CVC) is positioned to be selected for the 24-team field, possibly as high as a top-16 seed that would guarantee at least one home game. The top eight seeds receive first-round byes and open with second-round home games, while seed Nos. 9-16 host first-round games.
The Giants are ranked No. 17 in the state and No. 9 in NorCal by the California Community College Women's Basketball Coaches Association, and have the sixth-best total Rating Percentage Index — a factor in determining playoff seeding — among teams in NorCal.
"We needed this win," coach Doug White said. "This probably got us into the playoffs."
Sequoias ran its winning streak to four games by overcoming a first-quarter deficit (22-20) against Taft.
The Cougars (15-11, 3-7) pulled in front by six points (26-20) early in the second quarter before the Giants closed the first half on a 19-2 run that featured eight of Kyla Wandick's game-leading 26 points.
Sequoias stretched its lead to 23 points (62-39) with 31 seconds left in the third quarter on a pair of free throws by Lucia Ricci (Seattle, WA).
The Giants' lead grew as large as 24 points in the fourth quarter, the last time on a layup by Wandick (Bakersfield) with 5:07 remaining in the game that made the score 68-44.
Taft got no closer than 16 points the rest of the way.
More: COS men's basketball wins fourth straight, women's basketball fall to Fresno City
"We're playing hard," White said. "Sometimes they are on, and sometimes they don't listen and they are off. But when they listen we do good things. When they listen to the game plan, we've been tearing them up."
Wandick made 8 of her 16 shots from the field, including both of her 3-point attempts, while going 8-for-8 from the free throw line. She also contributed four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Ricci delivered 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals, while Trinity Ferro (Corcoran) had 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and a block for the Giants.
Sequoias also received seven points, four assists, three rebounds and a steal from Maci Chavez (Kingsburg); six points, four rebounds and two blocks from Geizzle Jones (Bullard-Fresno); five points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two assists from Anisa Torres (Caruthers); four points, six rebounds, three steals, an assist and a block from Darleth Felix (Tulare Union); four points, three assists, a rebound and a steal from Teresa Sandoval (Hanford West); and a rebound and assist from Andrea Perez (Porterville).
The Giants have an opportunity to avenge their two CVC losses — and bolster their playoff resume — with regular season-closing road games against state No. 6 Fresno City (23-4, 11-0) at 7 p.m. Feb. 21 and Reedley (16-9, 7-3) at 7 p.m. Feb. 23. The conference champion Rams topped the Giants 77-73 on Jan. 27, while the Tigers beat the Giants 67-60 on Jan. 31.
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: COS men's basketball routs West Hills
