Rams cage Owls in third win of the season

Rams’ sophomore guard Chuks Iroegbu (4) takes a shot against the Foothill Owls during the first half of a CCCAA men’s basketball game Jan. 17, 2014, on Ocean campus. Photo by Khaled Sayed/The Guardsman
Rams’ sophomore guard Chuks Iroegbu (4) takes a shot against the Foothill Owls during the first half of a CCCAA men’s basketball game Jan. 17, 2014, on Ocean campus. Photo by Khaled Sayed/The Guardsman
Rams’ sophomore guard Chuks Iroegbu (4) takes a shot against the Foothill Owls during the first half of a CCCAA men’s basketball game Jan. 17, 2014, on Ocean campus. Photo by Khaled Sayed/The Guardsman

Patrick Cochran/The Guardsman

The City College men’s basketball team won in dominating fashion on Jan. 17 over Foothill College. The final score was 80-48 and over the course of the entire game City College controlled nearly every aspect on the court.

City College’s choking full court press gave Foothill fits all night and didn’t allow them to get into a comfortable offensive tempo. The City College Rams also did an impressive job of turning successful defensive stops into easy transition baskets.

Guards Dulani Robinson and Chuks Iroegbu were in sync, with Robinson hitting Iroegbu with crisp long passes that lead to fast break points.

“We did what coach told us to do tonight. We’re a pressing team and we run a lot,” Robinson said after the game.

Another player that stood out was sophomore guard Kori Babineaux.

Toward the end of the second half Robinson threw an alley-oop to Babineaux, which he proceeded to throw down with power. It was a thunderous dunk that put an exclamation point on the Rams’ dominating victory.

After the game head coach Justin Labagh seemed satisfied with his team’s performance.

“[I] feel pretty good about how we played tonight. We worked for three hard days and we executed our game plan,” Labagh said. “We played hard all game until I pulled the offense in the last five minutes.”

One key aspect of the Rams squad is the team’s depth. The second unit is filled with players that would start on other teams.

Germeny Givens and Gabe Bealer are able to provide quality minutes when they come off the bench.

Freshman guard Bealer is a long athletic player that can drive to the basket and with his lanky arms is able to reach past defenders on the way to the hoop.

Fellow freshman guard, Givens, makes up for his lack of height by being a sparkplug on the court. He runs the team’s full court press as well as anybody and is able to score in transition.

The Rams also don’t lack big men in the middle.

Sophomore center Kanu Aja can outmuscle opponents and throw down dunks while freshman center Sami Eleraky uses his near 7-foot height to block opponents shots and score points in the lane.

As a tall guy Eleraky gets fouled a lot, resulting in many foul shots, but he also gets called for lots of defensive fouls.

“As a big guy you always got to be careful, because you always get fouls called,” Eleraky said.

With a relentless full court press, a deep bench and a team that loves to score in transition the Rams will have an exciting 2014 basketball season if they continue to play the way they did against Foothill.

The Rams’ next games are Jan. 22 at Positas College followed by a home game versus Chabot College on Jan. 26. Both games have a 7 p.m. tip off.

San Francisco Rams sophomore guard Joshua Fox (21) makes his way to the basket against the Foothill Owls during the second half of a CCCAA men’s basketball game Jan. 17, 2014, on Ocean campus. Photo by Khaled Sayed/The Guardsman
San Francisco Rams sophomore guard Joshua Fox (21) makes his way to the basket against the Foothill Owls during the second half of a CCCAA men’s basketball game Jan. 17, 2014, on Ocean campus. Photo by Khaled Sayed/The Guardsman