Men’s Basketball: Men’s victory puts them back in familiar territory

By Bontã Hill
The Guardsman

For a program that has set the bar high, participating in the state championships is becoming a yearly routine.

The City College men’s basketball team clinched a third consecutive “Elite Eight” appearance as they cruised to their fourth victory over league rival Chabot this season, 83-68.

“Our guys came out intense, which was the plan,” head coach Justin Labagh said. “We let them know from the very beginning of the game that they were not going to win.”

Sophomore forward Da’Ron Sims led the way with 16 points, while sophomores Calvin Douglas and Chris White chipped in with 14 points each.

Right off the bat, the Rams defense would not let the Gladiators breathe as they held them to only five points in the first 11 minutes of the game. Chabot would go on a 13-5 run to whittle the Rams lead to 22-18.

That was as close as they would get. The Rams stormed into halftime with a 14-point lead, 40-26. From that point, it wasn’t a question of if they would hold on to win, but who they would be playing in the first game of the of the “Elite Eight.”

“We weren’t shocked at all because we played hard every day in practice all week just preparing for them,” said sophomore Chibuzo Emeka. “Just going over the plays step by step, and everybody played hard during the game.”

Awaiting the Rams in their fourth round game is Irvine Valley College, a team nobody in the North Region seems to know anything about, aside from their impressive 26-4 record.

“At this point in tournament play there’s not so much you can do, since you can’t prepare for every offensive set they run,” Labagh said. “We just got to play the rules on defense, play smart and do what we do well, which is run and attack.”

Defense has been the key for any team at this point of the season, but Labagh’s team seems to have really bought into the concept, and he likes where his team is.

“We’re right there, right where we want to be,” he said.

The Rams take the court March 12 at 1 p.m. in Cal State Lutheran University’s Gilbert Arena in Thousand Oaks.

“This time it’s going to be much different,” Emeka said. “We’re more focused. We play as a team and just go harder.”