By Nick Giannandrea / COS ATHLETICS
College of the Sequoias needs a new net for the basket on the north end of Porter Field House.
That's because the men's basketball team cut it down while celebrating the Giants' first Central Valley Conference championship since sharing it with Fresno City in 2010, and their first outright title since 2001.
State No. 7-ranked Sequoias clinched sole possession of the CVC championship with a 75-54 throttling of No. 12 Columbia on Feb. 12 that saw Ryan Johnson (Hanford High) deliver 37 points, nine rebounds, three steals and a block while bolstering his resume for potential conference MVP and all-state honors.
"We put in the work every day for months, and it's paid off," Johnson said. "I couldn't be more proud of everyone. We deserved it. It's been awhile since we've had one, so I'm glad that we got it."
The Giants (22-4, 11-1) now lead second-place Porterville (17-7, 8-4) by three games and third-place Columbia (21-5, 7-5) by four games with two to play in the regular season: 5 p.m. Feb. 14 at Reedley (4-21, 0-11) and 5 p.m. Feb. 18 at West Hills-Lemoore (11-12, 5-7), site of the Elite Eight state championship tournament March 11-13.
With the outright CVC title in hand and riding a nine-game winning streak, Sequoias appears to be in line to receive a top four seed – and at least one home playoff game – when the Northern California Regionals are announced Feb. 26. The playoffs begin March 1, with the second round March 3 and the regional finals March 5.
"It's wonderful, especially with a group of young men like this," Giants coach Dallas Jensen said. "I tell everyone I talk to, this group has been a joy to coach. They are fun to be around. They make my job easy. I come every day excited to coach them and be around them.
"I'm excited more than anything for them and for the community. We had four goals coming into the year: To win a conference championship, get a top four seed in the playoffs, make it to the Elite Eight and win a state championship. And today, I think we knocked out two of those in one game. So I'm really, really proud of them for doing something special here today."
Punctuated by a thunderous dunk off a steal and assist by Mohammad Adam (Monterey), Johnson scored 15 of the Giants' first 21 points as they built a nine point lead with 6 minutes and six seconds left in the first half.
Johnson finished with 18 points in the first half as Sequoias' lead grew to 35-19 at halftime.
The 6-foot-6 swing, who initially arrived at Sequoias in 2018 as the quarterback on the football team, came out hot in the second half, scoring 12 points in the first 11:30 as the Giants' lead ballooned to 25 points (60-35).
Scott Ator (Murphy, Texas) gave Sequoias its biggest lead of the game at 27 points (64-37) on a jumper with 7:15 remaining.
Ator and Johnson were key cogs in a Giants' defense that limited Columbia to 21.7 percent shooting (5 of 23) in the first half and 33.3 percent (20 of 60) for the game. Sequoias shot 49.2 percent (30 of 61) as it avenged an 83-80 loss to the Claim Jumpers on Jan. 19 in Columbia.
"We already knew what we had to do. It was going to come down to defense and just playing the right way on offense," Ator said. "Our defense basically won us the game. We didn't even shoot that well, but playing good defense, just shutting a team down, no matter if your offense is good or bad, it's going to be tough to lose a game."
Getting the Giants to buy into playing tough team defense has been a focus for Jensen and assistants Tommy Lou, Tye McCord and Tie Sims and a key to the team's success.
"The defensive side is huge for us. I honestly believe that sometimes your best offense is getting defensive stops and getting out in transition," Jensen said. "So we spend a lot of time every day going through simple defensive drills that will instill really good habits. And, ultimately, those things are carrying over onto the floor. When you get five guys really working on the defensive end, things become a little bit easier on the offensive end, and that's what we are seeing. I don't think we shot it particularly well today. We pulled the trigger a little too early versus that zone. But when we get a paint touch or something out of the high post area, that's when the game really opens up for us, and I thought we did a better job of that in the second half."
In another impactful all-around performance, Seth Dawson (Antioch) had 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds while pushing a Giants' offense that scored 16 fast break points.
Sequoias also received eight points, nine rebounds, six assists, three blocks and a steal from Ator; nine points, five rebounds and five assists from Conner Jackson (Dublin); five points, five rebounds, two assists and a block from Terri Miller (Clovis North); and four points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal by Tiveon Stroud (Selma).
"It's a great experience. I never got to do this in high school so it's a first for me," Ator said of winning a conference championship. "We've been playing well all season. Coming into this game after they beat us the first time, we wanted to prove ourselves.
"I honestly feel like we're playing some of our best basketball this whole season. And we're tuning up for the playoffs, and possibly winning the state championship."
When the NorCal Regionals begin, the Giants will be on a quest for their first state championship since 1982. Sequoias' only other state men's basketball title came in 1953.
"We're rolling pretty hot right now," Johnson said. "I feel we can go pretty far."
The Giants have reached the state's Elite Eight field during the past two championship seasons, doing so in 2020 during Jensen's first season as coach and in 2019 during the final season of former coach Rusty Smith's 18-year tenure. There were no state playoffs in 2021 because of the pandemic.
The 2020 Elite Eight was canceled because of Covid-19 safety precautions. In 2019, the Giants' playoff run ended with a 70-59 loss to Citrus.
Neither of those teams entered the postseason as hot as Sequoias could this season. If the Giants win out – and they beat their remaining two opponents by 48 points (Reedley) and 17 points (West Hills-Lemoore), respectively, during the first round – they will ride into the postseason on an 11-game winning streak. The 2020 Giants had won two in a row and the 2019 team had won six straight entering the postseason.
"I love the way we are playing," Jensen said. "I think we continue to be very physical on both ends of the floor. We share the ball extremely well. There is positive communication.
"It's not everyday that you get a group that's this talented and this deep who play the game the right way. It's kudos to our players and coaching staff for working with them and getting them well-prepared and really hitting the ultimate stride here going into the postseason."