Mounties, Owls rule California

The Mt. SAC women's basketball team celebrates another CCCAA state title.

Citrus celebrates after winning the school's first CCCAA men's title.

Sunday may have been the biggest day in area college history as the Valley ruled both the men's and women's California Community College Athletic Association state basketball championships as the Citrus College men roared to its first state crown and the Mt. San Antonio College women won their fourth, and their third consecutive championship.
Mt. SAC showed the heart of champion to win the program's fourth state title since 2004 and became just the second school to win it three consecutive years, joining Ventura (2000-02) after the Mounties rallied from 14 points down in the first half for a 65-57 victory over Los Altos Foothill.
I have to admit at point during the first half, I didn't think they could pull it off.
But you have give it up for coach Laura Beeman's squad to be without its leader - Jazlyn Davis - for much of the first half, and find a way to comeback. Carmen Deal was a monster inside, with 13 points and 19 rebounds, while Zequoia Willams picked up the slack for Davis with a team-high 16 points. And how about that Blaire Egardo. The former Covina High star again hit some big treys to push the Mounties ahead to stay.
Coach Beeman's comments: "It's pretty amazing to have teams step up for you every year as a coach. It's amazing to have these young girls play that hard for you.
"These guys play with Jaz all year long. They play against her in practice every day, they play with her in games, so they know how to step up. Once they got that little bit of confidence to be able to step up without her, we were very confident going into halftime.
"All year long people said we're just Jaz, we're just Jaz. Well, we're not just Jaz."
That's four state titles in five years for the Mounties, so I guess we know which program, regardless of level or gender, is the area's best. Congrats to coach Beeman and her Mt. SAC Mounties!

And how about those Owls?
Never before could you mention state champion and Citrus in the same sentence. But no more. Coach Rick Croy's group is not only fun to watch with their in-your-face defense and their up-tempo offense, but they win. I thought at one point on Saturday that they were toast against Los Angeles Trade Tech in the semifinals. But then you look up again, and they are up by 10.
They did the same Sunday, turning a four-point deficit into a 15-point lead in a manner of minutes and eventually scoring a 72-67 victory over a very good Fullerton team.
Sophomore Buchi Awaji was a solid with 14 points and 11 rebounds. But the Owls also had four others - Victor Buensuceso (13 points), Richard Frohlich (13), Darren Moore (11) and A.J. Gasporra (11) - to add to the fun.
Coach Croy's comments: "This tournament served us well. We had a tough one against Trade Tech (Saturday) and things were looking bleak for us. We pulled together in the locker room and reminded ourselves that we weren't going to get frustrated.
"We were going to play like champions, and champions don't pout. They don't get frustrated. It takes a special group to never pout and never get frustrated, and this is the result."
Congrats to coach Croy and his high-flying Owls!
Give both of these teams a hand!