SDSU men, Lady Aztecs advance to NCAA First Four tournaments
San Diego State University’s men’s and women’s basketball teams both qualified for this year’s NCAA March Madness championship tournament.
The Aztec men, accustomed to winning the Mountain West tournament in recent years, were knocked out of championship contention by No. 5 Boise State, 62-52, in the tournament’s quarterfinal round on March 13.
Boise State went on to defeat second-seeded Colorado State, 69-56, in the tournament title game after upsetting No. 1 New Mexico, 72-69, in the semifinals.
SDSU had entered the 11-team tournament as the No. 4 seed.
The Aztecs had still racked up enough prestige points — breaking into the Top 25 rankings during the season — to receive the No. 11 seed in the South Regional in the single-elimination 64-team playoff extravaganza.
SDSU (21-9) was paired against North Carolina (22-13) in Tuesday’s opening round of the First Four against the Tar Heels, with the winner advancing to face No. 6 Ole Miss (22-11) on Friday.
This was the Aztecs’ fifth consecutive year qualifying for the NCAA tournament.
SDSU entered the First Four at No. 52 in the NCAA NET rankings. By contrast, Big West tournament champion UC San Diego (30-4) entered the week at No. 35.
The top-seeded Tritons defeated No. 2 UC Irvine, 75, 61, in the tournament title game Saturday in Henderson, Nev.
As a bonus, UC San Diego’s women’s team, seeded No. 4, earned a Big West tournament championship after defeating No. 3 UC Davis, 75-66, also on Saturday.
The Triton men, owners of a 15-game winning streak (longest active in the nation), received the No. 12 seed in the South Regional and were set to meet No. 5 Michigan (25-9) in Thursday’s opener in Denver.
It marked the first time the UC San Diego men had received an invitation to the Division I field.
The Lady Tritons, who are making their inaugural appearance in the Division I NCAA field, carried a 20-15 record into Wednesday’s NCAA tournament opener against Southern (20-14) at UCLA’s legendary Pauley Pavilion.
The UC San Diego-Southern winner advances to meet No. 1 seed UCLA on Friday.
SDSU’s women’s team — newly crowned MW tournament champions — received the No. 14 seed in the Spokane Regional 1 and will tip off play third-seeded LSU on Saturday.
The No. 4-seed Lady Aztecs claimed this year’s MW tourney title with a 72-68 triple overtime win over No. 2 Wyoming on March 12. It marks SDSU’s first MW tournament championship since 2012.
The Lady Aztecs (25-9) defeated fifth-seeded New Mexico and top-seeded UNLV en route to the championship game. SDSU entered the NCAA tournament riding an eight-game win streak.
The MW tournament championship is the third for the Lady Aztecs, whose 25 victories are the most in one season since winning a school-record 27 in the 2012-13 campaign.
Veronica Sheffey scored a career-high 24 points to go with with six rebounds and five assists en route to being named the tournament’s MVP. Naomi Panganiban chipped in with 17 points and joined Sheffey on the all-tournament team.
Cali Clark, meanwhile, became the only Division I player this century to have a conference tournament game with at least 17 rebounds, six steals and three blocks. Clark also scored 12 points for her seventh double-double of the season.
Kim Villalobos nearly joined Clark with a double-double, scoring 11 points with nine rebounds and four steals.
The game featured 16 lead changes and 12 ties.
Tip-ins
•The SDSU men ended their season with a 95-68 loss on Tuesday.
•The UC San Diego women ended their season with a 68-56 loss on Wednesday.
San Francisco City, Mt. SAC claim JC state hoops titles
The California community college state men’s and women’s basketball championship tournament took place last weekend at Mt. San Antonio College with eight teams (four from Northern California and four from Southern California) in each gender bracket.
In the men’s final, NorCal No. 1 San Francisco City defeated SoCal No. 1 Fullerton by a score of 75-58 behind double-digit scoring from tournament MVP Miles Amos (20 points), Rickey Mitchell Jr. (14 points) and John Squire (13 points). Fullerton was led by Jaqari Miles with 20 points and Joe Grahovac with 15 points.
Besides Amos, the all-tournament team included San Francisco’s K.J. Perry and Squire, Fullerton’s Miles and Grahovac and Citrus’ Tyler Issak.
San Francisco defeated SoCal No. 4 Cerritos, 82-70, in the opening quarterfinals while Fullerton topped NorCal No. 4 Cosumnes River, 68-53. In other quarterfinal action, SoCal No. 2 Citrus eliminated NorCal No. 3 Las Positas, 112-73, while SoCal No. 3 San Bernardino Valley defeated NorCal No. 2 West Valley by a score of 68-40.
San Francisco City nudged Citrus, 111-97, in the ensuing semifinals while Fullerton knocked out San Bernardino Valley, 83-76.
On the women’s side, No. 2 SoCal seed Mt. San Antonio defeated SoCal No. 1 Orange Coast, 52-39, in the championship game.
Taliyah McFerson led the Lady Mounties with 15 points while teammates Daisia Mitchell (12 points) and Elizabeth Udeze (10 points) also scored in double figures.
Hailey Estrada keyed OCC with 12 points.
All-tournament team selections included Mitchell, McFerson, Udeze and Estrada along with OCC’s Myia Collins, Sequoias’ Jocelyn Medina and Glendale’s Malia Ulery.
Mt.SAC defeated NorCal No. 3 Sierra, 68-45, in the opening quarterfinals before slipping past NorCal No. 1 Sequoias, 57-50, in the semifinals.
Orange Coast topped NorCal No. 4 Folsom, 95-59, in the quarterfinals, then eliminated SoCal No. 3 Glendale, 64-49, in the semifinals.
Glendale defeated NorCal No. 2 San Joaquin Delta, 64-49, while Sequoias defeated SoCal No. 4 Palomar, 77-71, in other quarterfinal matchups.
It was a record-setting season for the Grossmont College women who recorded 20 wins or more for the first time in 15 years, ranked top 20 in the state, top 10 in the region and had the leading scorer (freshman Kyla Palpallatoc with 16.5 points per game) in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference.
All-conference
First team picks included Southwestern College’s Ayden Lockett (conference scoring leader) and Jartavious Jackson while Julian Soares earned second team selection.
Players of the Year featured San Diego City sophomore guard Logan Huston (men) and Palomar freshman guard Kylee Trujillo (women).
COMMUNITY COLLEGE BASKETBALL SCOREBOARD
PACIFIC COAST ATHLETIC CONFERENCE BASKETBALL
MEN’S STANDINGS
Conference/Overall
San Diego City 15-1, 23-6
MiraCosta 13-3, 20-9
Southwestern 12-4, 20-10
Palomar 10-6, 17-12
San Diego Mesa 8-8, 13-15
Miramar 7-9, 12-16
Cuyamaca 4-12, 9-19
Grossmont 2-14, 2-26
Imperial Valley 1-15, 3-24
WOMEN’S STANDINGS
Conference/Overall
Palomar 14-0, 24-7
Grossmont 11-3, 24-6
San Diego Mesa 9-5, 20-10
Imperial Valley 9-5, 17-12
San Diego City 6-8, 13-15
MiraCosta 3-11, 8-17
Cuyamaca 2-13, 8-17
Southwestern 2-12, 6-22
SOUTHERN REGIONAL MEN’S PLAYOFFS
First Round
(17) Southwestern 90, (16) Santa Monica 70
(9) Chaffey 84, (24/21) Irvine Valley 73
(12/10) San Bernardino Valley 101, (21/24) Palomar 66
(20) Compton 70, (13) MiraCosta 68
(15) Pasadena City 73, (18) Cuesta 57
(10/12) Cypress 82, (23) Cerro Coso 73
(11) Cerritos 79, (22) Saddleback 61
(19) Santa Ana 64, (14) Allan Hancock 48
Quarterfinals
(1) Fullerton 90, (17) Southwestern 70
(9) Chaffey 86, (8) West L.A. 71
(12/10) San Bernardino Valley 104, (5) Santiago Canyon 79
(4) Mt. San Antonio 80, (20) Compton 60
(2) Citrus 80, (15) Pasadena City 75
(10/12) Cypress 81, (7) Moorpark 65
(11) Cerritos (6) San Diego City 65
(3) East L.A. 75, (19) Santa Ana 68
Semifinals
(2) Citrus 99, (10/12) Cypress 84
(11) Cerritos 71, (3) East L.A. 69
(1) Fullerton 86, (9) Chaffey 61
(12/10) San Bernardino Valley 87, (4) Mt. San Antonio 79
Note: Semifinal winners advance to state tournament
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WOMEN’S PLAYOFFS
First Round
(17) Irvine Valley 59, (16) Antelope Valley 57
(24) L.A. Valley 46, (9) Santa Ana 42
(21) East L.A. 61, (12) Victor Valley 59
(13) San Diego Mesa 63, (20) Cuesta 45
(15) West L.A. 65, (18) Long Beach City 58
(10) Grossmont 71, (23) L.A. Trade Tech 60
(11) Santa Barbara City 57, (22) Imperial Valley 52
(14) Fullerton 80, (19) Citrus 47
Quarterfinals
(1) Orange Coast 79, (17) Irvine Valley 55
(8) Cerro Coso 72, (9) L.A. Valley 61
(5) Cypress 80, (21) East L.A. 60
(4) Glendale 58, (13) San Diego Mesa 53
(2) Mt. San Antonio 85, (15) West L.A. 58
(10) Grossmont 67. (7) Mt. San Jacinto 59
(6) Palomar 79, (11) Santa Barbara City 61
(3) Moorpark 79, (14) Fullerton 39
Semifinals
(2) Mt. San Antonio 63, (10) Grossmont 42
(6) Palomar 50, (3) Moorpark 49
(1) Orange Coast 86, (8) Cerro Coso 36
(4) Glendale 55, (5) Cypress 50
Note: Semifinal winners advance to state tournament
