Giants clinch sixth straight CVC men's basketball championship with win over Merced

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

The streak continues for College of the Sequoias men's basketball team.

The state sixth-ranked Giants clinched at least a share of their sixth consecutive Central Valley Conference championship with a 91-81 victory over Merced on Feb. 15 at Porter Field House.

"It's super exciting," Sequoias coach Dallas Jensen said. "It's not easy to win a conference championship at any level. That we had an opportunity to do that again this year is tremendous."

While winning their 15th straight game – the longest winning streak among the 47 teams in the Northern California playoff region – the Giants improved to 23-3 overall and 12-0 in the CVC. No. 14 Columbia (20-6, 10-2) is the only team with a chance at catching the Giants, sitting two games back with two to play.

Sequoias closes the regular season at Columbia at 6 p.m. Feb. 21. The Giants raced past the Claim Jumpers 104-73 in Visalia on Jan. 29 during the first round of CVC play.

"You know, every year Coach Dallas comes in and tells us to work hard, and at the end of the year, you're gonna get to your goal," said sophomore Tyree Gill (Sacramento), who delivered 19 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks to the Giants' conference title-clinching win. "And that's the conference championship. So every day we come into the gym with one goal, and that's to win."

While celebrating the 24th conference championship in program history surrounded by family and friends by the traditional cutting down of the net, there was still cause for concern for Jensen and his team.

That's because the Giants failed to put Merced (12-14, 5-7) away until the game's final minute. Sequoias blew out the Blue Devils 95-65 on Jan. 22 in Merced.

"I told the guys that the competitive side in me, even as I was cutting the nets, all I could think about was how terrible our defense was tonight," Jensen said. "So we've got things we've got to really work on this last week in order to be prepared for the playoffs."

The Blue Devils trailed by seven (85-78) with 1 minute and 39 seconds remaining in the game on a basket by Justin Anderson, who scored a game-leading 32 points. 

Sequoias responded with a 3-pointer by Gill off an assist from Raydon Thorson (Queen Creek, Ariz.) to extend the lead back to 10 points (88-78) with 1:08 to play.

Merced's AJ Owens missed a 3-pointer on its next possession and the Blue Devils were forced to four the rest of the way. Davis White (Santa Clarita) made two free throws and Thorson added another to help Sequoias hold on to a win on a night it honored sophomores Gill, Thorson, White, Jaden Haire (Hanford West), Carter Glick (Mt. Whitney), Leyton McGovern (Anderson, Ind.) and Jayson Mathews (Sacramento).

"I feel like we came out here and were too excited about the night and what was going on," Gill said. "We forgot about the task. We still got the job done, so that's good, but we've got to come out harder next time."

After yielding an average of 64.4 points per game through their first 23 games, the Giants have given up at least 80 points in two of their past three.

Merced outscored Sequoias 49-47 in the second half while shooting 54.3 percent (19 of 35) from the floor and an even better 58.3 percent (7 of 12) from 3-point range.

"It was dead energy from the jump, all the way around, and it translated onto the floor," Jensen said. "Everything seemed a step slow tonight, and that had an impact on our defense. Obviously we scored the basketball well enough to win the game, but we definitely didn't win that because of our defense.

"I think we'll get it fixed. I think we have enough guys who were a part of this program last year whether they played or were redshirts, that they know what this thing is supposed to look like."

Haire led the Giants with 22 points, nine rebounds, two steals, two blocks and an assist.

Sequoias' starting five also saw McGovern produce 10 points, six rebounds and a steal; Thorson contribute seven points, three assists, two rebounds and a steal; and White add six points, four rebounds and two assists.

"It wasn't our best performance," Haire said. "It wasn't like our COS type of play like we usually do. We've got to play better defense. Defense wins championships."

Glick came off the bench to deliver 11 points, a rebound and a steal. The Giants also received eight points, four assists, two rebounds and a steal from Mathews; six points, two steals, two blocks, a rebound and an assist from Cameron Kelly (Decatur, Ga.); two points and a rebound from Kevin Anderson (Atlanta); and a rebound from Ahmad Clark (Atlanta).

Glick scored all of his points – on 4 of 4 shooting, including all three of his 3-pointers – during a 15-5 run that saw Sequoias turn a one-point lead (14-13) into an 11-point advantage (29-18) in the first half.

"I was feeling good," said Glick, who has battled injuries and missed portions of his two seasons. "But my teammates set me up though."

The Giants return to action at 7 p.m. Feb. 19 at Porterville (8-18, 4-8).

It appears Sequoias will need to win its final two regular season games to be in the discussion to receive a top-four seed for the Northern California Regional playoffs. The top four seeds are guaranteed home games through the regional finals on March 8.

Pairing will be announced Feb. 23 with the regionals beginning Feb. 26.

Sequoias – which is tied with No. 1 Las Positas, No. 4 West Valley and No. 7 Modesto for the second-best record among teams in NorCal – will likely open the playoffs with a home game on March 1, whether it is a top-four seed or not. No. 2 San Francisco has the best record in NorCal and the state overall at 25-1.

"It's very close right now. I think we're still sitting right in that 4-5 mix," Jensen said. "We're hopeful we can do our part and put ourselves in position to be a top-four seed. I don't care what number it is in the top four, I just want to be at home through the regional final." 

The Giants are looking to make this sixth straight trip to the state's Elite Eight tournament, which is scheduled for March 13 and 15-16 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

Sequoias reached the state final last season before losing 59-51 to West Valley.

The program has produced two state champions, in 1953 and 1982.

"We are just trying to get to that 'ship," Gill said. "You know, the next goal is getting to the Elite Eight. Once you get there, you've got to get to that 'ship. So I'm just focused on that."