The Fresno City College Men’s basketball team had their hopes of repeating as state champions dashed on Saturday night after a 100-83 loss to Merritt College in the second round of the Northern California men’s basketball regional playoffs.
FCC came into the game ranked No. 2 in the state while Merritt College held the No. 15 ranking.
The game was dominated by the guards of both teams. Sophomore Alex Perez led FCC with 26 points and Merritt College’s Joshua Amey ran the floor, scoring 13 points and connecting with his teammates for multiple assists and alley oops.
The game was a back and forth affair as the teams exchanged the lead all through the first half. Going into halftime, the Rams led 33-32.
The second half saw Merritt take the lead with 17:00 left in the game. They kept the lead until Perez tied the game at 52 with 11:54 left in the game. Perez followed up with a three pointer to give the Rams the lead 30 seconds later.
Merritt took control of the game later in the second half and never relinquished it. At one point in the second half, the Merritt lead was up to 15 points. FCC head coach Ed Madec was seen on his knees yelling at the officials and calling plays.
Merritt finished the game by extending the lead to 17 points and clinching their spot in the next round.
Merritt point guard Amey said “Fresno’s a good team, they played really hard and made us play to a higher level.”
Fresno City finished 12-0 in conference play and with a 24-8 overall record. Merritt will move on in the playoffs and take on No.7 ranked Ohlone College.
“This is the effort we had been looking for all year,” said Merritt assistant coach Keenan McMiller. “We felt we were a team that could play at the highest level.”
The scene following the game was an emotional one as family members consoled sophomore players after their final season at FCC ended with a loss.
“It was a tough loss; we didn’t want it to end that way. We wanted to win the whole thing again,” said sophomore forward Junior Morgan, who had 15 points in the game.
“I want to say thank you to my sophomores, they brought home a state championship and I’ll be indebted to them forever,” Madec said. “And I want to say thank you to my freshmen for being a part of the journey and I’m excited about the future of this program.”
