Local junior colleges to compete in men's basketball regional

Citrus College, Chaffey College and Mt. San Antonio College will be competing in the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Men's Basketball South Regionals starting today. According to the brackets, all 3 teams have received a first round bye due to winning their respective conference championships in the regular season. The brackets can be viewed HERE.

Winning the Western State Conference championship with a record of 26-2, 12-0, the 2nd seeded Citrus College Panthers are currently riding a 16-game win streak. The Panthers latest victory was a 73-66 over Canyons. Citrus won the regional and state championships in 2008.

Ranked 5th in the regional, the Mt. SAC Mounties captured the South Coast Conference championship with an overall record of 24-4 and an undefeated conference record of 8-0. The Mounties topped East L.A. in its last contest, 89-60.

The Chaffey College Panthers enters the tournament as the 11th seed. The Panthers won the Foothill Conference championship and is currently on a 4-game winning after beating Mt. San Jacinto College on February 19th, 80-68. Chaffey currently holds a record of 19-8, 10-4.

Mt. SAC hosts Saddleback and Chaffey plays at Cerritos tonight on the semifinal round. Citrus returns to action tomorrow night at home against Santa Ana.

Gauls trounced by Windward in 2nd round CIF confrontation

Things went Windward's way from the very beginning against Webb in the 2nd round of the CIF Southern Section Division 5AA Boys Basketball playoffs and the Wildcats never let up in eliminating the Gauls on Friday night, 58-37.

Webb was outscored in every quarter and trailed 35-22 at the half. The Gauls recorded just 15 points in the 2nd half off 6 points in the 3rd quarter and 9 points in the 4th.

Webb boys soccer falls, basketball to compete tonight

Webb's boys soccer squad was unable to march past Viewpoint on Thursday, dropping a 3-0 decision to Patriots at Calabasas in a CIF Southern Section Division 6 first round match.

With Webb's elimination, only the boys basketball squad remains in CIF team contention. Fresh off a 52-25 win over Milken Community on Wednesday, the Gauls will host Windward in 2nd round action tonight at 7 p.m.

Thursday CIF Update

The latest CIF Southern Section Boys Basketball results indicate one local team advancing and 2 other squads concluding their seasons.

Led by Kane Willis' 15 points, Webb doubled up Milken Community on Wednesday to advance to the 2nd round of the CIF Division 5AA playoffs, 52-25. The Gauls will now play at No.1 seeded Windward on Friday at 7 p.m.

No.1 ranked Eisenhower overwhelmed Claremont with a 24-2 run in the 2nd quarter after the Wolfpack lead 18-16 after the opening period. Jack Reeder scored 14 points and grabbed 9 rebounds but CHS never recovered in a 72-43 loss.

Claremont's girls soccer team in heartbreaking fashion to Millikan on Wednesday, suffering a 1-0 loss in overtime in a Division 1 wild card match. The defeat ends what has been a turnaround season for the Wolfpack, who won 15 matches this year after winning just 5 in 2008-09.

Keep visiting the blog for more CIF updates this week including Webb boys soccer in action tomorrow and the CIF Southern Section Individual Wrestling Prelims and Finals this Friday and Saturday.

Wolverines end Wolfpack season in CIF wild card play

The Claremont boys soccer 2010 season concluded on Tuesday as the Wolfpack fell to Alisa Niguel in the wild card round of CIF Southern Section Division 1 play, 2-0.

Goalies Connor Ritchie and Diego Ramirez split goal tending duties with 40 minutes apiece in the contest. Ramirez finished with 5 saves while Ritchie made 3 successful stops. Both goalies allowed one goal each.

Two more Wolfpack teams will be in action tonight as the boys basketball squad plays at Eisenhower in a CIF Southern Section Division 2A first round encounter and the girls soccer team will compete at Millikan in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 wild card match.

Stags will finish season with best SCIAC record

With its 76-67 victory over La Verne on Saturday night, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team is guaranteed to end the 2009-10 regular season at least in a tie for the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's (SCIAC) best record. Chris Blees led the way for the Stags with 25 points and 8 rebounds with Patrick Lacey and Joseph Anderson adding 11 points each.

Currently holding an 18-4 record overall and a 10-1 mark in SCIAC play, the conference leading Stags have just 2 games left in the season. Second place Redlands has an 8-3 conference record after an 88-77 loss to Whittier last night. C-M-S holds the tiebreaker over Redlands with a 77-62 win over the Bulldogs on January 9th and a 97-89 overtime victory on February 3rd.

The SCIAC Tournament begins on February 26th with the Stags guaranteed to be the No.1 seed. Before then, C-M-S will seek to avenge its only conference defeat when the Stags host Pomona-Pitzer at Ducey Gymnasium this Saturday. The Sagehens defeated the Stags, 47-36, in the teams' first meeting.

YSU's greatest freshman? Brandi Brown continues strong play in first college season

Youngstown State University freshman forward Brandi Brown is no stranger to dominating the paint. Coming off an impressive senior season at Claremont High School in 2008-09 where she averaged 24 points and 19.6 rebounds per contest, Brown has already surpassed former Penguins player Jen Perugini for most rebounds by a YSU freshman women's basketball player.

Brown scored 10 points and grabbed 10 boards to earn her 11th double-double of the season in last night's 82-36 loss to Butler. Through 23 games, the freshman is averaging 11 points (2nd on team) and a team-high 11.3 rebounds per game. Her rebounding mark also ranks her first in the Horizon League and she is one of just 30 Division I women's basketball players to have recorded at least 10 double-doubles this season.

“I would like to continue to improve on being a vocal leader, and I would also like to become a better defensive player by moving to the right spots and being in the right position on the floor,” Brown said in released statement. “For this season, and over the course of my career, I would like to continue averaging a double-double. As a team, a Horizon League Championship is a goal that I think we can achieve in the future.”

If Brown's improvement during her 4 years at CHS is any indication, the 5-11 freshman could arguably end up as Youngstown State University's greatest women's basketball player. Brown's freshman stats at CHS were 10.6 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.

Carter to Stanford, Tuliaupupu to Montana, Waas to UC Davis

Claremont High School's Kori Carter and Taylor Tuliaupupu, along with Webb School's Jacob Waas all participated in National Signing Day back on February 3rd, signing their letters of intent in order to confirm their full-ride scholarships to their respective universities.

Kori Carter
The CHS track standout signed with Stanford University on Signing Day and plans to continue her track career at the Pac-10 school. Carter is currently the defending state champion in the 100 and 300 meter hurdles among high school girls.

“Since I was little, I had wanted to go to USC and then for some reason, I wanted to go to the University of Michigan,” she said. “I really see myself at Stanford and the fact that they put so much effort to get me there tells me that they will also take care of me as one of their student athletes.”

Taylor Tuliaupupu
The CHS defensive football captain and All-Baseline League selection led the Wolfpack with a team-high 90 tackles in 2009 before signing with the University of Montana. Tuliaupupu was not aware the university was scouting him during the 2009 season.

“I didn’t know what the University of Montana was until they called me up and told me they had been looking at film of me playing,” Tuliaupupu said. “I went out to there last weekend and it was a beautiful campus. The coaches and my [future] teammates are good people. I’m very thankful for this opportunity.”

Jacob Waas
The All-Prep League and All-CIF standout has joined 17 other recruits in what UC Davis head football coach Bob Biggs is describing as the best recruiting class the university has ever assembled. Waas showed his versatility the last 2 years by leading the Prep League in sacks in 2008 and primarily playing fullback in 2009.

A more complete version of the story can be found in the February 6th print edition of the COURIER or on COURIER Online.