Yuba College men beaten in CCCAA Final Four
Mar. 18—West Valley College (Saratoga) continued its run through the California Community College men's basketball season at the expense of Marysville's Yuba College, with the Vikings taking down the 49ers, 55-48 in the opener of Saturday night's California Community College Athletic Association state semifinals at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.
West Valley advanced to the CCCAA state championship and won to become the fifth unbeaten state champion in Junior College history. Meanwhile, Yuba College finished its unprecedented season at 29-3 and into the state Elite Eight for the seventh time since 2004.
Down five at the break Saturday, West Valley outscored Yuba College, 10-2 at the near eight-minute mark of the second half to balloon its lead on Yuba to 39-26. Shakir Odunewu was one of the second-half catalysts as the 6-foot-11 freshman and D-I bounceback out of New Mexico State, continued to pound Yuba down. He had 14 of his game-high 16 to go along with eight of his 14 rebounds at the 13:54 mark of the second half.
Yuba, undermanned down low, tried to counter with sophomore, all-tournament selection Devon Malcolm. Malcolm had 15 in the first half but struggled to find openings in the second with just four at the 12-and-half minute mark.
Malcolm received little-to-no help as sophomore Demarreya Lewis-Cooper struggled one day after scoring 24 in the Elite Eight win over San Diego City College. Lewis-Cooper was 1-for-5 for two points through 20 minutes and missed his first four shots of the second half.
Cam Niles tried to be the spark plug in the second half with a couple coast-to-coast layups to finish with 10 points. Despite Niles' resurgence, Yuba trailed 45-36 with 6 minutes, 19 seconds left.
Yuba College battled early with West Valley exchanging leads with the state's top-ranked team three times with five deadlocks through eight minutes of the opening half. Malcolm scored six of his game-high 22 on 3-for-6 from the floor at the near midpoint of the first half. Malcolm finished 10-for-22 from the floor and grabbed 12 rebounds while Elijah Mahi added 16 for West Valley, including a few from the mid-range to put away Yuba College down the stretch.
Women's basketball
(2S) Glendale, 66, (1N) Butte College 42
The state's top-ranked Butte College Roadrunners fell short of a second straight CCCAA state final Saturday, falling to the second-seed out of the South region, Glendale, 66-42 in the women's Final Four.
Butte (30-2) shot 23.9 percent for the game and under 12 percent from 3-point range. Campbell Vieg and Sarah Tate led Butte with nine each, while Pierce High graduate Jocelyn Medina had seven in her first season playing for Tyler Newton and Butte College.
Karine Dhaliwal, Yuba City High grad, scored two (1-for-3 shooting) in the loss.
