Local sports briefs: Fresno City, COS continue CVC title marches

State No. 1 Fresno City clinches share of CVC men’s basketball title

Even without its best defender, the Fresno City College men’s basketball team still came away with a victory.

Freshman guard Evan Stillahn hit four 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 14 points as the Rams — ranked No. 1 in the state for a third straight week — clinched a tie for the Central Valley Conference title with a 74-68 victory over West Hills on Wednesday.

The Rams (25-3, 9-0) played without sophomore guard Dejon Burdeaux, who’s nursing a shoulder injury. But long-range shooting, with the Rams nailing 12 3-pointers in all, helped move Fresno City within a win over Reedley on Saturday of wrapping up the CVC outright and likely clinching the No. 1 seed in the North Regional.

Steven Coulanges led the Falcons (11-15, 5-4) with 14 points.

Academy of Art tops Fresno Pacific men in OT

Alexis Moore hit a pair of free throws with 6 seconds remaining in overtime as Academy of Art beat Fresno Pacific 90-88 in a PacWest Conference men’s basketball game in San Francisco.

The Sunbirds’ Jeff Amazan couldn’t connect from 3-point range as time expired.

Bobby Barnes scored 21 points and Trevon Clayton 20 to go with 10 rebounds. It was Clayton’s layup with 0.3 seconds left that forced overtime for Fresno Pacific (7-16, 3-12).

Moore led the Urban Knights (6-15, 4-11) with 19 points.

Sunbirds women fall behind early in defeat

Academy of Art rolled to an early lead en route to an 80-71 victory over Fresno Pacific in a PacWest women’s basketball game.

Keairra White scored a game-high 31 points for the Sunbirds (3-17, 3-12) and Jenay Herring added 17. The Sunbirds shot 35.9% from the field and 67% from the line, missing 10 free throws.

Fresno Pacific went on a 15-3 run late in the first half to cut into a 14-point Urban Knights lead and entered the locker room trailing 36-32.

Sha’Nice Storey scored 23 points to lead Academy of Art (14-9, 9-6).

Fresno State rallies for men’s tennis victory

Euan McIntosh rallied from a set down to win at No. 1, Eric Komati also went three sets at No. 2 and Adam Glynn and Joshua Zeoli won in straight sets at Nos. 3 and 5 singles as the Fresno State men’s tennis team rallied from two points down to beat Pacific 4-3 in a nonconference match in Stockton.

“We were up 3-1 with a lot of momentum but Fresno State’s top guys stepped up and took the match to us,” Tigers coach Ryan Redondo said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get it done and it resulted in our fourth 4-3 loss in a row.”

Fresno State’s Sophie Watts wins MW weekly women’s tennis honor

Fresno State junior Sophie Watts was named Mountain West Conference women’s tennis player of the week.

Watts, of Hitchin, England, went 3-0 as the Bulldogs defeated then-No. 66 Kansas State 5-2 and San Francisco 7-0. She scored the clinching point to beat the Wildcats and Tuesday moved up four spots to No. 43 nationally.

JC baseball: Ohlone routs West Hills

Isaiah Maddela, batting sixth in the order, went 4 for 4 as part of a 12-hit attack and Carlos Jimenez pitched four-hit ball over six innings as Ohlone College routed visiting West Hills 14-3 in a nonconference baseball game.

Maddela scored four runs and drove in two for the Renegades (7-0), who beat the Falcons for the second straight day and the third time this season. Chris Robinson hit a two-run double for West Hills (2-5) in the ninth, when it scored all of its runs.

This story was originally published February 11, 2015 at 11:44 PM with the headline "Local sports briefs: Fresno City, COS continue CVC title marches."