The Fresno City College men’s basketball team continues their strong start to their season by winning their sixth straight game in a 65-49 win over conference rival Columbia on Jan 11.

The win improves the Rams record to 14-4, giving them sole possession of first place in the Central Valley Conference, while remaining unbeaten in conference play at 3-0. The loss by Colombia knocks the Claim Jumpers down to 7-7 and they fall to second place in the CVC.

The game started off with both teams showing strong defensive performances, creating turnovers while limiting each others shots at the net. The Rams were able to break away from Columbia with quick scores from freshman forward Zach Savage and freshman guard Cole Morgan, who scored a combined 33 points for the Rams.

The Rams controlled the tempo of the game by having a strong defensive front while also recovering eight rebounds to continue scoring drives, building a 15 point lead halfway through the first half. What kept the Rams from creating a bigger lead is sloppy ball handling, resulting in points scored off turnovers by Columbia, chopping the Rams 28-21 lead at halftime.

Ram’s freshman guard Fred Lavender knows that ball control is what kept them from playing to their full potential. The ability to control the ball better opens up more opportunities to score while also controlling the time possession.

“We need to have better ball control. With better ball control, the better our chances to win games and that is what we need to fix right now,” Lavender said.

The second half started with the Rams taking control of the game from the opening tip by scoring 19 straight points in the first five minutes. This barrage from the Rams was due to foul calls going their way. Creating turnovers and scoring on every possession increased their lead to 41-21. Ram’s freshman guard Tommy Nuno attributes their 19 point run to picking up the slack that allowed Columbia to come back in the first half.

“We let them come back in the first half, and in the start of the second we came out with something to prove. Once we did, everything was going our way, from the finishing drives to creating turnovers. Everything clicked for us,” Nuno said.

The remainder of the the game was back and forth, with scores from both teams, as Columbia was slowly building towards a comeback. The Rams lead proved to be too great for Columbia as the Rams stiff defense was enough to close out the second half and the win.

Rams’ assistant head coach Sultan Toles Bey was pleased with how his team performed but knows that they need to fix the little things to keep them at the top of their game.

“We played well tonight with our defense able to keep them under 50 points. We try to push ourselves to another level,” said Toles Bey. “Ball handling is the one thing that I would like us to be sharper on. We play to win conference outright and we need to play better in order to achieve that.”