MC basketball teams enter CVC play shorthanded

Just when the Merced College men’s basketball team seemed on the cusp of putting together a special season, the Blue Devils suffered an unexpected blow.

MC (8-5) is off to its best start in a decade and has looked like a serious threat to make some noise in the always competitive Central Valley Conference. Bill Russell’s squad is going to have to do that without all the expected pieces. New eligibility rules will cost Merced College three players the rest of the way, none bigger than freshman center Joshua Willingham, who was averaging 15.4 points, 11 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.6 blocks per game.

The good news is Merced has plenty of sophomore experience to pick up the slack. The trio of Deonta Woodard (17.4 ppg, 7.2 rpg), Anthony Nolen (14.3 ppg) and Jose Gonzalez (15 ppg) have been scoring machines. Byron Brummel has provided good leadership at point guard and John Zaragoza (7.5 ppg) has given good minutes off of the bench.

“Unfortunately, we’re not going to have everyone we’ve had to start the season,” Russell said. “We lost some key guys, but every other JC out there is going through the same things right now. This is an opportunity for other guys to step up and contribute.

“Having so much sophomore experience has been the big difference for us this year. It’s allowed us to get off to a good start, and it’s hopefully going to get us through this time as we start conference.”

The Blue Devils will find out quickly where they stand, opening CVC play with 15-time defending champion Fresno City College (11-4). Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. at Don Reid Court. They constitute two of the three CVC teams with winning records entering the start of league, joined by West Hills (8-4).

Columbia (5-6), Sequoias (6-8) and Reedley (5-7) compose the next tier. The trio haven’t been as consistent, but have also lost to some good competition. Porterville (3-10) and newcomer Cerro Coso (1-8) have struggled.

“The conference is going to be very competitive once again,” Russell said. “We’ve seen a number of the teams in passing at tournaments, and we have our work cut out for us. It’s going to be a little tougher now, but I think our guys are capable of rising to the challenge.”

Women’s basketball

Allen Huddleston can feel Russell’s pain when it comes to the eligibility changes, losing three freshmen of his own to grades. The MC women’s basketball team suffered a double whammy, however, with the news coinciding with a string of injuries.

As a result, the Lady Devils (8-9) closed out 2016 with just six players in their two games at the Mike Gervasoni Memorial Tournament. Huddleston said he hopes to have freshman guard Heaven Mazon back from injury shortly, but Merced will be forced to go with a thin rotation for the foreseeable future.

“This is a little different for me,” Huddleston said in a text. “I’ve never had to deal with this before, because our kids normally do a pretty good job of being focused and taking care of business academically. This time we didn’t.

“I’m very proud of the effort those six girls gave in the two days of the tournament. Hopefully we’ll get Heaven back pretty soon, but our depth is pretty much gone.”

The good news for the Lady Devils is that budding star Salihah Bey remains in the lineup. The freshman guard leads the team with 17.4 ppg, 7.4 rpg and 2.3 apg.

Sophomore guard Samantha James (9.8 ppg) gives Merced College a solid shooting option around the perimeter, and Anntranetta Stickman (4.8 ppg, 4.7 rpg) is making more and more of an impact on the interior.

The schedule makers did Huddleston no favors with MC opening against the two league favorites. They’ll host NorCal No. 6 Fresno City (13-6) on Wednesday and then travel to NorCal No. 2 Sequoias next week.

Reedley (7-6) and West Hills (6-9) join the Lady Devils at right around .500 in nonconference play while Porterville (3-11) and Taft (1-8) seem destined for the bottom of the standings.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 4:01 PM with the headline "MC basketball teams enter CVC play shorthanded."