California Notebook

In the first week of playoff action, things went pretty much as expected all over California. In first-round action, just four of the sixteen games played were won by the lower seed, and at least a couple of those were hardly surprises.

Up north, there were no first-round surprises as the top eight seeds all won. Top-ranked West Valley, #2 seed Fresno and #3 San Francisco all posted convincing wins. #4 Delta need overtime to get past Chabot, 82-70, and #5 Shasta just edged Yuba, 75-74. #6 Diablo Valley, #7 Siskiyous and #8 Sequoias all advanced as well.

In the southland, there was one big surprise: #14 seed Riverside toppled Foothill Conference champion, #3-seeded Chaffey, 96-94. Also, #6 Compton, racked by late-season controversy regarding player eligibility (but, unlike last year, not stripped of any wins), lost to #11 Long Beach, the SCC-South division champion, 83-80.

There were two other games in which the lower seed won, but they were more or less expected results. #10 San Bernardino Valley topped #7 Orange Coast, 85-76, behind a 32-point, 11-rebound performance from Jamar Smith. And #9 Mt. San Jacinto got a huge game from DeWayne Green (31 points, 6 assists, 6 rebounds and 7 steals) and knocked off #8 Irvine Valley. Todd Follmer had 29 points and 12 rebounds for the Lasers in the loss.

The other games went pretty much as expected, though #4 LA City just barely held off a stubborn #13 Saddleback squad, 77-74. Dejon Prejean had 23 points on 9-of-10 from the floor in that one. Top-seeded Fullerton got 26 points from Michael Earl and 24 from Corey McIntosh and beat Mt. San Antonio, 74-66. And #2 Ventura advanced to the second round with an 80-71 win over Cerritos. Brandon Dixon had 18 points and 9 rebounds to lead the Pirates.

Featured Games

On Friday, #9 Sierra traveled to Visalia to take on #8 Sequoias. But the host Giants had little trouble in posting a 65-44 victory. The Sequoias' excellent set of wings carried the offensive load as off-guard Byron Marks scored 11 of his 12 points in the first half and small forward Aaron Scott scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half.

Even more impressive than the offense, however, was the COS defense. Anchored by the combination of Centers Andrew Green and Clarence Juillet, plus power forwards Daniel Apolinario, the Giants held Sierra to 21% shooting in the first half and 31% for the game. And College of the Sequoias also generated 18 steals among the 25 Sierra turnovers they forced. Most remarkably, each of the 10 Giants that took the floor ended up with at least one steal.

The Sequoias jumped out to a 6-0 lead and led wire-to-wire. The Giants finished the first half on a 13-1 run to take a 33-14 lead at intermission, and scored the first four points of the second half to push the margin to 23. After a 3-point field goal by Sierra's Matt Johnson brought the Wolverines within 18, Scott answered with a three-pointer of his own to push the lead back above twenty, and that's where it stayed.

Then on Saturday, two of the most successful programs in California squared off in L.A. City College's Y-Nasium. Visiting #13-seed Saddleback was on hand to take on the #4-seeded Cubs. Saddleback defeated LA City back in 2002 on a last-second tip-in to take the state championship, while the Cubs got a measure of revenge the next season, beating the Gauchos in the semifinals en route to the 2003 state championship.

L.A. City began the game by jumping out to a 10-5 lead after a pair of baskets by Dejon Prejean. But Saddleback rallied to take a 17-15 lead after a basket by Gerard Anderson with just over 9 minutes left. The rest of the half, however, belonged to City. A baseline drive by Prejean tied the game at 20, and then Prejean put the Cubs back on top with a free throw. Then came a basket by James Spencer and a pull-up three by Terrell Powell. By the time halftime came, City had finished the first half on a 16-3 run and held a 10-point lead at intermission.

Saddleback had shot just 28% from the floor in the first half, but got the offense straightened out in the second half and nearly knocked off the favored Cubs. The Gauchos continued to trail for much of the second half, and were behind by 13 at 63-50 with under 8 minutes to play when they began their rally. A pair of free throws by Anderson, a three-pointer by Darryl Best, a pair of free throws by Ramon Mendoza and a 3-point play by Tremaine Ford-Townsend helped cut the lead to 7. Then a pair of free throws by Anderson and one free throw by Mendoza made it a 4-point game. After a basket by LA City's Joseph Taylor, Saddleback got a putback basket by Best, a basket by Ford-Townsend and two more free throws from Anderson to tie the game at 69 with 2:44 left.

Then LA City re-established its lead, and just barely held on for the win. Taylor scored on a 1-handed shot to put the Cubs back ahead, and Marque Rollin dribbled out of a double team and threw down a loud dunk to make it 73-69. But Saddleback responded with a basket by Carlton Arnwine to make it a 2-point game again. As the clock ticked down, LA City still held a 2-point lead with Prejean at the free throw line with 22.7 seconds left. He missed the first, but made the second to make it 77-74. Then Saddleback had three different chances to tie the game, but a pair of three-point attempts by Keith Smith and one by Arnwine, all in the last 10 seconds, missed, allowing LA City to escape with a 77-74 win.

For City, Prejean led the way with 23 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, and made 9 of 10 shots from the floor. Powell had 14 points and 3 assists, while Spencer and Taylor (who battled foul trouble much of the night) had 12 points each. Smith led Saddleback with 17 points while Anderson had 15. Ford-Townsend had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists for the Gauchos.

Player Spotlight:

Rishawn Norwood, Mt. SAC. We've heard about him before, but he had his finest moment of the season in the play-in game Wednesday night against Pacific Coast Conference champion Palomar. In Mt. San Antonio's 96-90 win, Norwood made 17 of 27 shots from the floor, 6 of 11 from three-point range, and added 10 free throws to finish with an even 50 points.

It's the first 50-point game of the season in California, and it's only appropriate that it came from Norwood, the state's scoring champion at 27.3 points per game. But the 3-pointers are a new dimension; Rishawn didn't make a single three in the two games we saw him play this season.

The 6-3 freshman guard proved it was no fluke, scoring a game-high 26 points, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, against undefeated Fullerton in the first round. That would be the Mounties' final game of the season, however, as the Hornets posted a 74-66 win.

The Week Ahead

In the North: #1 West Valley (30-3) vs. #8 Sequoias (23-10); #2 Fresno (31-4) vs. #7 Siskiyous (27-4); #3 San Francisco (28-3) vs. #6 Diablo Valley (28-8); #4 San Joaquin Delta (28-6) vs. #5 Shasta (21-10).

In the South: #1 Fullerton (34-0) vs. #9 Mt. San Jacinto (24-10); #2 Ventura (27-6) vs. #10 San Bernardino Valley (23-11); #4 LA City (31-3) vs. #5 Moorpark (25-6); #11 Long Beach (19-14) vs. #14 Riverside (21-12).

We'll have a report on the Fullerton/Mt. San Jacinto game. While Fullerton enters the game as the favorite, Mt. San Jacinto will be a formidable opponent. The Eagles have three losses in 2006, each by a single point, and with standouts DeWayne Green and Marcus Sikes, should have the firepower to provide more than a little resistance to the Hornets.

Signings

College of the Sequoias reports four signings: 6-6 center Andrew Green is headed to Cal State Fullerton, while 6-6 center Clarence Juillet will attend Montana State. 6-7 forward DeMarcus Hall and 6-4 guard/forward Aaron Scott are both on their way to UC Riverside.