Rams continue winning streak

City College 73, Foothill 56

With City College riding a 12-game winning streak, and beating opponents by an average of 32 points per game during that streak, the Rams came into their game against Foothill College with a lot of confidence.

That confidence might have gotten the better of them, as the Rams found themselves facing an early 9-0 deficit. They were able overcome their early struggles and responded with a strong showing for a 73-56 win against the Owls on Jan. 13 at the Wellness Center.

The win extended the men’s basketball team’s winning streak to 13 and kept the team in first place in the North Coast Division. The victory also gave the them a No. 1 ranking in the California State Poll, the ranking the team held in November at the start of the season.

Head coach Justin Labagh was heard screaming at his players in the locker room after the game, apparently not pleased with how his team started.

“I didn’t think that we came out intense, and that frustrates you as a coach,” said Labagh. “You know these guys, all of them respectively, were the best players on their high school team and they had a long leash, a lot of leeway. Now they are on a real high-performance team and they need to come in, either for one possession or ten possessions, and do their job.”

After their slow start the Rams went on a 14-5 run to tie the game. The run was ignited by the hot shooting of sophomore Ivan Dorsey, who hit a couple of three’s and jump shots to bring his team back. On one jumper he was able to make the shot despite being hit on the arm. He was fouled and converted on the three-point-play.

“He is the best shooter in the state,” said Labagh. “It’s always a focus for us getting him the ball and that’s what he does. He’s a dynamic shooter.”

Dorsey finished the first half with 14 points on 5 of 6 shooting. The Rams went into halftime with a seven-point cushion, 38-31.

“It was all the team. They just found me, off screens, found me open,” said Dorsey. “The offense was kind of dead so we just kept swinging it around.”

However the team’s success so far this season has been because of their depth, and it has been the main contributing factor during their winning streak.

The Rams used a balanced offensive attack and good defense to eventually distance themselves from their opponent.

After Foothill hit a three-pointer to bring them within six, City College responded with a 9-2 run which saw an alley-opp conversion, as freshman point guard Delon Wright lobbed the ball up to sophomore forward Raysean Hariston for the tip in, putting their team up double digits for good.

The Rams finished the game with four players in double figures, including sophomore Thomas Cooper with 12, Hariston and Wright both with 11 and Dorsey with 17 points to lead his team.

Wright had a couple of big dunks in the game and was able to drive to the basket often.

“I just tried to attack. Their players were kind of slow, so it was easy to get to the rack,” he Wright.

Recently, getting players to control their ego’s have been a concern for coach Labagh. Winning has not.

The Rams will try to add to their winning streak when they take on Skyline College Jan. 25 at the Wellness Center. Tip-off is at 7:00 pm.