PC men’s basketball team picks up huge win at Fresno City
The Porterville College men’s basketball team began a late season push to keep its State Playoff hopes alive with an impressive 70-53 win at Fresno City College on Wednesday.
While the Pirates are just 11-12 on the season, they can still make a push for a state playoff berth with a late season run and they essentially began that run with its win at Fresno City. It was the third time in the last four games over the past two seasons PC has been able to beat the Rams.
The Central Valley Conference can have up to four teams selected for the Northern California State Playoffs. Twenty-four teams will be selected for the Norcal playoffs and 24 teams will be chosen for the Socal playoffs.
PC placed itself in a three-way race for second in the CVC with its win at Fresno City (16-5), which is ranked No. 17 in the state in the rankings released on Wednesday. Porterville also has a win over Columbia (18-5), which is ranked No. 15 in the state.
College of the Sequoias is ranked No. 6 in the state at 19-3 and leads the CVC at 9-0. Fresno and Columbia are tied for second in the CVC at 6-3. PC is one game behind at 5-4.
The Pirates face a key stretch of games beginning on Saturday when they host Merced at 5 p.m. PC will then host COS at 7 p.m. Wednesday, followed by a key matchup at Columbia at 6 p.m. February 11.
There are seven different criteria that are used for selecting teams for the state playoffs, with conference standings being among the criteria.
Julio Phipps and Cameron Walker led the way for PC in its win at Fresno. Phipps finished with a team high 19 points and finished with a double double as he also had 11 rebounds. Walker had 18 points, five rebounds and seven assists.
PC came out with great defensive energy right from the start and led 38-28 at halftime. Fresno closed to within four points in the second half, but the Pirates eventually extended their lead to 12 points and never looked back.