The 2004-05 JC Basketball season is now in the books! Fresno City became the first team since Compton in 1970 to make it through the entire season and the playoffs without a loss, finishing 34-0.
During the season I managed to see a total of 69 games - a new record for me and six more than my total of 63 in 2003-04. Most of that was in Southern California, but it also included three road trips up north and I ended up seeing 70 different teams (another new record for me).
So once again, here's my list of the best and the brightest from the 2004-05 season...
Season Superlatives:
Most Points, Team: 114 – Fresno, 3/10 vs. Ventura
Fewest Points Allowed: 41 – LA City, 11/26 vs. Cuyamaca
Largest Margin of Victory: 39 - Feather River 107 vs. Mendocino 68, 12/17
Most Points, Player: 41 - Deonte Huff, Antelope Valley, 2/2 vs. Chaffey
Most Rebounds, Player: 17 - Marcus Dorsey, Feather River, 12/17 vs. Mendocino
Most Assists, Player: 14 - Jamil Muchell, Chabot, 2/19 vs. Ohlone
Most 3-point FG, Player: 7 - Jordan Noblitt, Feather River, 12/17 vs. Mendocino
Most Blocked Shots, Player: 8 - Cedrick Kalombo, Fresno, 12/9 vs. El Camino
Most Steals, Player: 7 - Ruben Mitchell, Desert, 11/7 vs. LA Pierce
Best Team: Fresno City.
Their record speaks for itself: 34-0. And nobody really got all that close to beating them either.
Best Player: Carlton Spencer, Canyons.
At the risk of sounding like a homer, this wasn't a difficult call. Carlton averaged 23.1 pts, 6.0 rebs and 5.3 asts per game for the year, but that's just the start. The whole team revolved around him, and he made his teammates better night in and night out. Plus, he led them to their second straight WSC-South division championship. There may be other players who are better prospects for the next level, but nobody in California had the kind of year Carlton had for COC.
Best Game, Regular Season: Ventura 96, Long Beach 90 (OT), 12/4.
This non-conference matchup featured two of the most talented teams in SoCal. Neither team led by more than 6 points the entire game, each team had four double-figure scorers and of course it went into OT. Ventura's Gary Nunez scored on a putback of his own miss in the final seconds of regulation to force the extra session. It remained close and was tied in the final minute of OT when Danny Mena scored to put VC ahead. Then with 15 seconds left, Ventura ahead by a point and the shot clock winding down, Ventura's Jonathan Davis nailed a three from the corner to put the Pirates in control.
Best Game, Playoffs: Ventura 66, LA City 64,3/5
In the final game at LA City's Y-Nasium, visiting Ventura spoiled the Cubs' going-away party by making 20 of 23 free throws and gutting out a tough 2-point win. It was a packed house, and of course the heat was turned up for the occasion. And in direct contrast to Ventura's free-wheeling win vs. Long Beach mentioned above, this game was a physical, half-court war. That would seem to favor the bigger, tougher Cubs but Ventura stood their ground. And when LACC pushed out to a 59-54 lead midway through the second half, it looked like Ventura might be in trouble. But after a couple of key 3-pointers from Charles Dillon, a fine all-around game by Moses Gonzalez (as usual) and a big effort from Gary Nunez, the Pirates managed to come out on top.
Best Game, Team, South: Canyons, 2/16 vs. Glendale.
In their 100-68 win, COC did something I've never seen a team do before: they shot better than 60% from the floor (60.3) and committed fewer than 10 turnovers (8). Carlton Spencer led the way - no surprise there - with 23 points (10/15 fgs) and 9 assists. Curtis Dunwoody added 22 points (8/12 fgs) and 7 assists. Four other Cougars scored in double figures, and reserve forward Jeremy Lake scored in the game's final minute to get the team to the century mark.
Best Game, Team, North: Chabot, 2/19 vs. Ohlone.
Just a few days later, I saw Chabot have a similar performance for a half, by which time they were in full control of the game. In the first half, Chabot shot 63% from the floor, made 9 threes and committed just 4 turnovers in taking a 47-24 lead. For the game, they shot 54.7% from the floor, with 14 threes, and turned the ball over just 15 times in a 92-64 romp. Marcus Caesar led the Gladiators with 25 points and 9 rebounds, and Jamil Muchell dished out 14 assists.
Best Game, Player: Carlton Spencer, Canyons, 12/29 vs. Antelope Valley
Not much doubt on this one - Spencer posted the only triple-double I saw this season and he did it with plenty to spare, finishing with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists in COC's 71-65 win over local rival AVC. At the time, AVC was ranked #4 in the South, led by UNLV-bound Wendell White. But Spencer was the star of this game. And it wasn't without some drama as Spencer landed hard on the floor with 5:42 left and had to be helped to the bench. But he returned for the last 4:07 of the game, helping to secure the win with 5 points and an assist in the final 1:20.
Best Performance in a Losing Cause: Deonte Huff, Antelope Valley, 2/2 vs. Chaffey.
Chaffey always forces an up-tempo, open-court kind of game, and that suited AVC's Huff just fine. In a 105-96 Chaffey win, Huff took advantage of the running game to score 41 points (18/25 fgs) and grab 11 rebounds, both career-highs to that point, for the Marauders. Chaffey held a lead the last 9 minutes or so, but thanks to Huff AVC managed to stay close.
Best Game, Player, Playoffs: Moses Gonzalez, 2/25 vs. Mt. San Jacinto
In Ventura's first-round game, Moses had a remarkable game. He finished 15 for 18 from the floor for a career-high 40 points. And yet, his second half was even more remarkable as he made 10 of 10 shots from the floor, scoring 28 points and making 6 of 6 free throws in the final 1:30 to seal the win. And making it even more remarkable is that it was exactly what his team needed as fellow All-State selection Gary Nunez had fouled out with 13:21 left!
Best Defensive Play To Save The Game: Ruben Mitchell, Desert, 2/5 vs. Chaffey.
Leading 81-79 as the clock wound down, Desert needed a stop to hold off host Chaffey. With about 30 seconds left, Chaffey's T.J. Smith drove the baseline and went up for the dunk to tie the game. But waiting for him at the top was COD's Ruben Mitchell. And not only did Mitchell reject the dunk - without fouling Smith - but he corralled the loose ball after it hit the ground. And then he called timeout before anyone could foul him! On the restart, COD got the ball to Earl Isaacson, who calmly drained a pair of free throws to clinch the win.
Worst Game By A Good Player: Mikel Watson, Saddleback, 3/10 vs. West Valley
Let me start out by pointing out that Watson is an excellent player. He was named first-team all-conference in the OEC and helped Saddleback to a 26-3 record. He had 17 points, 6 assists and 3 steals when I saw Saddleback beat Cypress 2/9. He's headed to Utah State next season where he continues a tradition of Saddleback players heading to Logan, after Mark Brown and David Pak (just to name 2).
But that game against West Valley...yikes! Watson shot just 1-for-11 from the floor, grabbed only 2 rebounds, had no assists or steals and committed 5 turnovers. That gave him a reading of -9 for the NBA Draft Camp formula, the worst I can remember. (He had a 26 for the game vs. Cypress).
However, Watson got the last laugh when the Gauchos pulled out an 80-76 win to advance to the state semifinals!
Best Games by Position:
PG – Travis Sobers, Barstow, 2/5 vs. Victor Valley. Although it was a tough season for the 7-18 Vikings, Sobers was a bright spot and in this "Battle of I-15" he was dominant. For the game, he made 8 of 13 shots including 2 threes, to score 20 points (tied for team high). But he also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, dished out a game-high 7 assists and tied for team honors with 3 steals. He also blocked a shot in an 85-63 Barstow win .
SG – Earl Moore, Feather River, 12/17 vs. Mendocino. The game was full of gaudy statistics as the Golden Eagles won, 107-68, and used just 8 players. But the gaudiest belonged to Moore: 36 points on 15/23 fgs plus 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Nobody else (on either team) scored more than 21 points.
SF – Carlton Spencer, Canyons, 12/29 vs. Antelope Valley (see above)
PF – Moses Gonzalez, Ventura, 2/25 vs. Mt. San Jacinto (see above)
C – Durwin Williams, Glendale, 11/17 vs. LA Pierce. In this early-season WSC crossover game, the Vaqueros got a sterling performance from Williams. He finished with game-highs of 29 points (Glendale's only double-digit scorer and one of only two in the game) and 14 rebounds (nobody else on Glendale had more than 4) and 3 blocked shots. And the Vaqueros needed every bit of that: they managed a 64-63 win after Durwin blocked a shot at the basket in the game's final seconds.
Miscellaneous...
Rally Saturday
On January 15, I attended three JC games (2 mens, 1 women). In each game, one team jumped out to a double-digit in the game's opening minutes...and ended up losing! Rio Hondo led 15-4 before Antelope Valley rallied for an 81-73 win. Then the LA Valley mens team led 28-16 before Glendale came back to win, 75-66. And the Glendale womens team jumped to an early 20-8 advantage, and still led by 8 at halftime, only to see LA Valley put together a strong second half and win, 71-55.
Um, how 'bout some help, guys???
One of the South's top scorers was Citrus' Mark Kelley. But he sure didn't get much help. In their season-opening loss to LA Harbor, Kelley scored 35 points and grabbed 8 rebounds in the Owls' 76-69 loss. Then in an 84-55 loss to Mt. San Antonio on 12/9, Kelley managed 20 points but no teammate scored more than 7. And finally, in an OT loss to Canyons in January, Kelley had game-highs of 34 points and 13 rebounds, but COC won, 94-89, in OT. So for the three games, Kelley averaged almost 30 points a game but Citrus lost each time.
More Than Half:
It's rare to see in JC ball, but Kelley's 35 points in Citrus' 76-69 loss was just one of three times in which a player scored more than half his team's points. But the other two were wins: Jonathan Pickert had 27 in Santa Barbara's 51-50 win over Cerritos 12/28 and Aaron Nixon had 36 in San Bernardino Valley's 66-51 win over Antelope Valley 1/12.
How rare is it for a player to score more than half of his team's points in a game? The only time I saw any player score more than half his team's points in 2003-04 was when Mike Ford had 51 in LA Southwest's 99-95 OT win over Antelope Valley. And the only other time I've seen it in JC ball was way before this site was launched, and before I knew what the internet was about. In just the second JC game I ever attended, Karim Scott scored 38 in CCSF's 99-72 loss to West Valley in January, 1995.
Home Away From Home
West LA might want to consider playing some of their home games in Valencia next season. In four games at College of the Canyons, West LA went a perfect 4-0, winning the COC Holiday Tourney with wins over Moorpark, Antelope Valley and LA Harbor. Then they came back in January to play a divisional game against the host Cougars and won again, 76-72 in OT. Last season, they finished the division schedule with an 86-71 win over WSC-South champs COC, so now the Oilers have won 5 in a row at the Cougar Cage.
In The Win Column!
Cuesta entered their 12/28 game vs. Reedley with an 0-10 record. And with Reedley standing as a .500 team (4-4) it didn't seem all that likely that the Cougars would get off the schneid against the Tigers. But Mecklin Davis had other ideas. His FG+FT 3-point play gave Cuesta a 57-54 lead, and his steal with 24 seconds left helped the Cougars hold the lead. He was fouled with 5 seconds left and Cuesta still ahead, 60-58, and made 1 free throw. He missed the second, but when Reedley brought the ball up the floor, he deflected the ball away, preventing a potential game-tying shot in the final seconds. For the game, Davis finished with 25 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals. And Cuesta came away with a win.
One Hot Minute:
Actually it was 1:05. In Fresno's 105-85 win over El Camino December 9th, the Rams ambushed the Warriors at the start of the game with a streak that was pretty unreal. Fresno grabbed 3 steals, forced another turnover and made a pair of threes in taking a 10-0 lead in the game's first 65 seconds. Not surprisingly, the Rams led the rest of the way, their 7th win in their unbeaten 34-0 season.
All In The Family:
Early in Ventura's game against Moorpark, the Pirates were having trouble holding onto the ball and Coach Winslow called for a timeout. In the huddle, Winslow was displeased with something star forward Moses Gonzalez said, and sent him to the bench. When play resumed, in came Gonzalez' cousin, Danny Mena. And Mena never came out of the game, playing the rest of the way and finishing with 12 points, 7 assists and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Two Near Triple-Doubles:
On December 17th, two players (in different games of the SRJC Kris Kringle Tourney) missed a triple-double by a single rebound. First, Feather River's Mario Burns finished with 18 pts, 10 asts and 9 rebs in the Golden Eagles' 107-68 win over Mendocino. Then a couple hours later, Los Medanos' Phillip Washington had 14 pts, 12 asts and 9 rebs in LMC's 102-94 loss to Santa Rosa. But Burns had the better excuse for his near-miss: he got some blood on his jersey and left the game (for good) with 7 minutes left. It's hard to believe he wouldn't have managed one more rebound in those final minutes, but I guess we'll never know for sure.
Bingo!
LA Clipper broadcaster Ralph Lawler is famous for exclaiming "Bingo!" when someone makes a 3-point shot. Well, if Lawler had been broadcasting the Santa Rosa Kris Kringle Tourney on December 17th, even he'd have gotten sick of the word. Feather River and Mendocino combined for 19 threes in the day's first game (FRC won, 107-68), while Shasta and American River totalled 17 in the second game (an 88-84 Shasta win). But that was just the beginning: West Valley and Yuba combined for 20 in the 6 pm game (WVC won, 93-84). And in the finale, Santa Rosa and Los Medanos combined for 25 threes in SRJC's 102-94 win. That's a total of 81 threes for the day. Bingo!
Mr. Clutch:
In their two appearances, Santa Monica won both times (and since they finished 12-15 that's pretty good timing). And both times, PG Jonathan Smith absolutely took over. In their 69-59 win over SD Mesa, Smith scored 7 points in the final 2 minutes, expanding a 58-55 lead into a 10-point win. In their 80-69 win over West Hills, Smith had 10 points, 2 steals and an assist in the last 5:03 as SMC pulled away.
Unshakable Confidence:
As time wound down in Bakersfield's game at Glendale on January 8th, the Renegades trailed by 7 with just over 3 minutes left. The ball went to Tyler Monk, who despite being a very good shooter was having an off-night; he was 2-for-15 (with no threes) to that point. But that didn't matter a bit as Monk let fly a turnaround, fall-away three that swished through the net. Moments later, Monk tied the game on a lay-up. And then, after Glendale had grabbed a 2-point lead, Monk launched an Iverson-like pull-up three that gave Bakersfield it's first lead of the second half. The Vaqueros ended up winning in the final seconds, but no one can blame Monk, who overcame a rough night to make the big shots down the stretch.
Déjà vu All Over Again Again:
Poor Orange Coast. I usually only see them play once or twice a year, and it's invariably against the strongest of competition. Still, though they are usually compeitive due to their strong defense, they manage to put up some miserable shooting percentages, even given the circumstances. In 2002-03, Orange Coast shot a miserable 23.9% (16 of 67) from the floor the only time I saw them (against Irvine Valley). Then in 2003-04 they shot just 23.5% from the floor (12 of 51) against a great LA City team. This time around it was a little better - 31% (22 of 71) against LA Southwest 12/9. Maybe they're not so unhappy I don't see too many of their games...
Foul!:
In West Valley's state quarterfinal game against Saddleback, the Vikings were whistled for an unbelievable total of 36 fouls. Of their original 8-man rotation, four players fouled out and three others finished with 4 fouls. Yet somehow, WVC managed to push the game into OT, tying it in the final seconds on a running three by Drew Sanchez. But in OT...well, you guessed it, Sanchez fouled out and Saddleback got an 80-76 win.
Farewell!
And finally, a big farewell to LA City's famed "Y-Nasium". Built in 1931, it was the oldest JC gym in the state and has been home to a long line of excellent Cub teams. Known for its intimate seating and overwhelming heat, the Y-Nasium closed its doors for good after Ventura's 68-66 win over LA City in the regional final. A new state-of-the-art building is in the works for LACC.
