Fresno City College Men’s Basketball team furthers it’s reign as top-ranked team in the Central Valley Conference. The Rams hosted the Merced Blue Devils last Wednesday night, Feb. 3, in an attempt to come one step closer in obtaining their eighth consecutive Central Valley Conference title. As of Wednesday night, the FCC Rams have yet another win under its belt, winning a tight game with a final score of 66-58 Rams.
The current Rams team consists of fourteen players: #1 Luis Quinones, #2 Sultan Toles-Bey, #3 Aaron Hill, #4 Edward Willis, #10 Travis Ferrel, # 14 Ian Collins, #15 George DeLeon, # 20 Sterling Miller, #21 Russell Gregory, #22 Donnell Flemming, #31 Taylor Young, #32 Asante Gaskin, #33 Brent Grice, and #34 Brian Johnson. The team is led by head coach Ed Madec and assistant coaches, Adam Wall, Jeff Schmidt, Mike Vellutini, and Jason Paul.
Through most of the first half, the Rams and Blue Devils were neck and neck, fighting for the lead. Toward the end of the first half, the Rams missed several free throws and fell behind, trailing the Blue Devils by three points with a score of 33-36.
Despite this, the Blue Devils had trouble keeping the Rams off of the free throw line and could not get past the strong zone defense Coach Madec was running.
In the first half, the two teams kept the score close, neither one with any significant lead. #3 Aaron Hill and #15 George DeLeon each came through with steals and team rebounds.
At the end of the first half, FCC student Jahari Smith said, “They’re doing great, but they can’t make any threes. They’re [Rams] playing hard and hustling,’ but they can’t seek a three.”
The second half was action packed. The Rams came out in their true form. Though the Rams trailed the Blue Devils at the start of the second half, the Blue Devils were no match for the Rams. #2 Sultan Toles-Bey came out strong with a three pointer to make it a one point game for the Rams (53-52) Blue Devils. With a little over three minutes left in the game #14 Ian Collins, #2 Sultan Toles-Bey, and #3 Aaron Hill were all fouled. They made their free throws, and furthered FCC’s lead by only a few points. Talk about a close game folks!
Fresno City College President Cynthia Azari was also in attendance Wednesday night. “I have been to every game since January; all the home games and the Reedley game. I love basketball and I am impressed with the boy’s teamwork and the fact that they are gentlemen on and off the court. The coaches have done a good job, but this was a nail biter,” said Azari.
The Rams had the crowd on their feet, taking the win over the Blue Devils 66-58, leaving the Fresno City College Rams undefeated, with 28 wins and zero losses. The Rams have two more scheduled games this season (Feb. 14 versus. Reedley College and Feb. 18 versus. West Hills College). This all leads up to the quarterfinals in late February and the State Championships from March 12-15 at Selland Arena.
