PC Men’s basketball: Key will be consistency
A postseason is not out of the question for the Porterville College men’s basketball team who return nearly half their roster and are back to practicing in their own gym to start the season.
Playing at home is an important factor for the Pirates who went 6-1 at home and were 4-16 on the road last year for an overall record of 10-17. Porterville went 7-7 in Central Valley Conference play with five of those wins coming at home against three of the top five teams — Merced (17-11, 9-5 CVC), Columbia (14-11, 9-5 CVC) and West Hills Coalinga (15-11, 7-7 CVC).
“It’s tough for opponents to come here and play against us,” Haynes said. “It’s a place that can be an intimidating factor to opposing teams at the [junior college] level. I think we try our best to take advantage of it as much as possible.”
The Pirates open their season on the road at the three-day San Jose City College tournament beginning Thursday. Porterville is on the road for most of the preseason except on Nov. 15 when they host Oxnard at 6 p.m. They begin conference play at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 3, at home against Merced.
“Our conference is going to be even tougher this year than it was last year,” Haynes said. “Fresno [City is] up there again. [College of Sequoias] had a down year last year, supposedly. And they’re back stronger.”
Porterville is playing with a chip on their shoulder this season after finishing with only 10 wins for the second year in a row, missing the playoffs due to a 104-97 loss at Merced in the final game of the season and finishing tied for fourth in the CVC with West Hills Coalinga.
“The goal is to win the state championship, but we want to get over that 10th win and we’re right there,” Haynes said. “And I think we got the pieces, the new additions, to make that happen. I think these guys, I think the returners have a chip on their shoulder. The new guys want to prove to people that they are capable of playing at this level and the naysayers who overlooked them, prove them wrong as well.”
Last year Porterville's roster was made up of all freshmen that showed promise especially in Malik Mccowan, a 6-foot3 guard from Valencia. Averaging 17.5 points a game, Mccowan was named to the CVC'S Allconference, All-freshmen and All-defense teams.
According to Haynes, Mccowan is getting looks from mid- to low-major NCAA Division I schools, but Mccowan said his focus is on getting wins and being a leader for his teammates rather than stacking his trophy shelf.
“Continue to work hard, day in and day out in practice, just keep listening to coach and do what I can do,” Mccowan said. “Don't try to be something I'm not. And if the awards and accolades come, they come. But I'm more focused on winning games at the end of the day.”
But the importance of returners doesn't just lie in Mccowan. The Pirates return five other players — Carlos Angel, Elijah Mascorro (Porterville HS), Steven Ulloa (Monache HS), Tevin Howell, and Jackson Cascio — along with 6-foot-8 freshman Brandon Thomas who sat out last season with a dislocated knee cap.
Porterville played in five games over the course of two showcases and went 1-5. The losses came after the Pirates blew a 22-point lead in one game and then leads of nine or less points in the final minutes. Their one win came on a buzzer beater against Hartnell.
“I think that it was fitting, winning the last game at the buzzer in our showcases by one point,” Haynes said. “Because it can go two ways. It can go where we start off bad, having big leads and giving them up. Or, we go back to that last game of the showcase, we kept it, we had it, we lost it, we kept it. Now we know how to keep it.”
Consistency will be the theme of the season for the Pirates as they still work to figure out what type of team they're going to be this season.
“This year I'm looking for consistency,” Haynes said. “Are we a team that's going to be able to score a whole bunch of points or are we a team that's going to be able to press, get up and down, or half-court style? Whatever style that we have, I want to see if we're consistent in doing it.”
Thomas, along with 6-foot-8 freshman Damoni Jones from the District of Columbia, provide Porterville with height in the paint while shooters like Angel, Cascio, and freshman Elijah Cardenas from Independence High School will allow the Pirates to spread the floor.
Outside of Granite Hills High School guard Jonah Ruckman, nearly all of Porterville's freshmen are from nearby in the Central Valley with Jones being the exception. Guards Cardenas, Germaine Caldwell and center Terry Phillips are from Bakersfield schools while center Jamion Neal is from Madera.
“Freshmen are going to play a huge part,” Haynes said. “We got a lot of good freshmen that came in this year, going to be looking for these guys to help us out.”
Consistency, health and the ability to finish games strong will all be the determining factors in Porterville's chances at a playoff run.
“It's going to be a dogfight and the goal is to come in healthy,” Haynes said. “Last year was patience, this year we're looking for consistency. And I think that we can be able to hang with these other teams. We showed that last year, especially in conference, every year we keep going up.”