With the Central Valley Conference title on the line, #5 Fresno (27-8, 12-2) went ahead by 6 points at halftime and pulled away in the second half to post a 90-77 victory over visiting #4 West Hills (23-9, 11-3) Saturday night, securing the CVC championship and a likely top-4 seed in the playoffs.
Fresno used its pressure and its depth to wear down West Hills, which committed 28 turnovers in the game. Eleven different Rams scored in the game, and Fresno built a 21-point lead in the second half before a late West Hills rally changed the score, but didn’t threaten the outcome of the game.
The pace was frantic all night, with the Fresno press and both teams substituting multiple players at virtually every dead ball. Fresno substituted often to get its 13 players into the game. West Hills, on the other hand, used just 8 players but substituted frequently to keep them fresh. The pace didn’t even slow down at halftime when “Mutts In Motion” took the floor and had dogs of all sizes and colors racing up and down the floor, much to the delight of the huge crowd.
Early in the game, West Hills used its full rotation to take an early lead. After a driving lay-up by PF Brian Minor opened the game to give Fresno a 2-0 edge, West Hills responded with five straight points by SF Guiressi Grimes, who scored a FG+FT 3-point play and then finished after a nice pass from PG David Carter to give the Falcons a 5-2 lead. Neither Minor nor Grimes even started the game, but both came on in the first of innumerable substitutions just a few seconds into the game.
Fresno rallied, taking a 6-5 lead on a putback basket by Ctr Brent Grice (also a substitute – Fresno also got the reserves into the game early and often) and then got a three from SF Jonathon Hewitt to make it 9-5. The Ram lead reached 5 at 13-8 before West Hills rallied to tie the game at 18 on a pair of free throws by SF Joshua Lopez with 9:26 left in the first half. Moments later, West Hills took a 20-18 lead after a putback basket by PF Adedokun Olanrewaju. Fresno got a three from PG Sultan Toles-Bay to go back in front, 21-20, but then West Hills responded with a free throw by Ctr Charles Carter and a fastbreak basket by Grimes to re-take the lead at 23-21.
But that would be West Hills’ last lead of the entire game. Fresno scored the game’s next 8 points to take a 29-23 lead after a driving lay-up by PG Mike Marcial. And from there, the Rams extended the lead to 7 at 33-26 on a basket by SF Cory Billingsley and to 8 after a three by SG Phillip Matcham. West Hills got a basket by C. Carter and a pair of free throws by Grimes to make it 36-32, but consecutive threes by SG Marlon Burnett and Matcham gave Fresno a 10-point lead at 42-32 with 1:12 left in the first half.
West Hills cut the margin to 6 at halftime after C. Carter scored inside and then grabbed a defensive rebound and threw an outlet pass to Lopez, who was fouled and made both free throws. That made it 42-36 at the break. And early in the second half, West Hills cut the margin to just 3 points at 45-42.
But from there, Fresno pulled away, going on an extended 39-14 run to take control of the game. Toles-Bay got the run started with a basket and a feed to PF Brian Johnson for another score to make it 49-42. Then Minor scored a FG+FT 3-point play to push the lead back into double digits at 52-42 with 16:20 left in the game.
Fresno gradually stretched the lead, pushing the margin to 11 at 59-48 on a basket by Hewitt, to 10 after a third-chance putback basket by Billingsley and to 13 at 71-58 with 9:26 left after a three by Marcial. A FG+FT 3-point play by Marcial made it 74-59 with 8:49 left. A basket by SF Kenya Edwards after a pass from Marcial and a three by Billingsley pushed the margin to 20 at 79-59. West Hills made a minor rally late after threes by Lopez and PG Ricky Branham but never got any closer than 12 points.
For Fresno, Marcial led the way with 15 pts and 9 asts in a marvelous performance. Matcham also had 15 points, all on 3-pointers. Minor had 12 and Hewitt had 11 for the Rams. Grice had 5 pts and pulled down a team-high 9 rebs. Billingsley had a solid game with 9 pts, 6 rebs and 4 steals. Toles-Bay also had a good all-around game with 8 pts, 6 rebs and 5 asts.
For West Hills, Branham had a strong game with 19 pts and 4 asts, though the Fresno defense also forced him into 8 turnovers. Grimes had 14 pts (on 5-of-5 from the floor) and Lopez had 11. C. Carter posted a double-double with 11 pts and a game-high 13 rebs. Olanrewaju just missed a double-double with 10 pts and 9 boards. SG Brandon Brown, the Falcons’ leading scorer this season, finished with just 10 pts on 5-of-14 shooting.
box score
Saturday, February 17, 2007 – 7 pm
at Fresno City College
Central Valley Conference
West Hills Falcons 77:
4-Ricky Branham, PG – 7/15 fg, 3/5 ft, 2 reb, 4 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 19 pts
22-Brandon Brown, SG – 5/14 fg, 0/4 ft, 7 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 10 pts
30-Joshua Lopez, SF – 3/8 fg, 4/4 ft, 4 reb, 3 ast, 3 pf, 11 pts
34-Charles Carter, C – 4/9 fg, 3/8 ft, 13 reb, 2 ast, 3 lbk, 2 pf, 11 pts
52-J.C. Snead, PF – 1/5 fg, 4 reb, 1 pf, 2 pts
24-David Carter, G – 2 ast, 1 pf, 0 pts
32-Guiressi Grimes, F – 5/5 fg, 4/7 ft, 3 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 14 pts
42-Adedokun Olanrewaju, F – 5/9 fg, 0/1 ft, 9 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 3 pf, 10 pts
team rebounds: 8
Totals: 30/65 fg (.462), 14/29 ft (.483), 50 reb, 15 ast, 4 blk, 5 stl, 17 pf, 77 pts
3-pt fg (3): Branham 2, Lopez
Turnovers (28): Branham 8, Brown 5, Lopez 4, C.Carter 4, Snead 3, Olanrewaju 3, Grimes
Fresno Rams 90:
10-Cory Billingsley, SF – 4/10 fg, 6 reb, 4 stl, 2 pf, 9 pts
14-Mike Marcial, PG – 5/14 fg, 4/5 ft, 4 reb, 9 ast, 2 stl, 1 pf, 15 pts
15-George DeLeon, C – 0/1 fg, 1/2 ft, 3 reb, 1 stl, 4 pf, 1 pt
31-Marlon Burnett, SG – 3/5 fg, 1 reb, 1 ast, 1 pf, 8 pts
32-Brian Minor, PF – 5/12 fg, 2/3 ft, 4 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl, 1 pf, 12 pts
20-Kenya Edwards, F – 2/5 fg, 4 reb, 2 stl, 3 pf, 4 pts
2-Sultan Toles-Bay, G – 3/8 fg, 0/2 ft, 6 reb, 5 ast, 2 pf, 8 pts
3-Phillip Matcham, G – 5/14 fg, 0/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 stl, 15 pts
33-Jonathon Hewitt, F – 4/9 fg, 1/1 ft, 1 reb, 2 ast, 2 pf, 11 pts
34-Brian Johnson, F – 1/6 fg, 5 reb, 2 stl, 2 pf, 2 pts
4-Brent Grice, C – 2/3 fg, 1/1 ft, 9 reb, 1 stl, 4 pf, 5 pts
5-Daniel Valdez, G – 0/2 fg, 1 reb, 0 pts
22-Daniel Mitchell, C – 1 pf, 0 pts
team rebounds: 4
Totals: 34/89 fg (.382), 9/16 ft (.563), 49 reb, 18 ast, 0 blk, 14 stl, 23 pf, 90 pts
3-pt fg (13): Matcham 5, Burnett 2, Toles-Bay 2, Hewitt 2, Billingsley, Marcial
Technical Foul: Bench (premature celebration – extra players on floor)
Turnovers (17): Marcial 6, Burnett 4, Edwards 2, Toles-Bay 2, Matcham 2, Minor
Halftime Score: Fresno 42, West Hills 36
Updated Records: Fresno (#5-North, #9-Calif) 27-8, 12-2 in CVC (clinches conference championship); West Hills (#4-North, #7-Calif) 23-9, 11-3 in CVC
