CCSF goes cold, stunned in opener by Bakersfield

SF Chronicle, Staff Writer, March 15, 2008.

CCSF went without a field goal for 9 1/2 minutes of the second half and blew a 15-point lead in a 70-67 loss to Bakersfield College on Friday in the first round of the eight-team state community college men's championship at the University of the Pacific.
 
 The Rams, which shared the state coaches' poll top ranking with Citrus, never trailed until Bakersfield reserve guard Andrew Rhoades hit a three-pointer with 4:07 left for a 60-59 advantage. Reggie Lassiter responded to end the Rams' cold spell with a put-back for CCSF's last lead, 61-60 with 3:53 left. Bobby Fisher put Bakersfield ahead
for good, 62-61, and then Rhoades hit a three.

CCSF (29-4) was led by Justin Brownlee and Roburt Sallie with 20 points
each. Fisher led Bakersfield (22-14) with 15 points, five rebounds and two
blocks.

3-Minute Interview: Justin Labagh

The Examiner, Steve Drumwright, March 14, 2008.

The City College of San Francisco men's basketball coach has his Rams (29-3) on the verge of a state junior-college championship. CCSF faces Bakersfield (21-14) in today's 5 p.m. quarterfinal cgame at the University of Pacific in Stockton. The championship is Sunday.

What's been the biggest suprise of this season? We play with nine guys. At the start of the year, I would have thought maybe seven-man rotation. But these guys are really unselfish.

Why have they stepped up in the last few games? I just think they see the end in sight. They have their eye on the prize. We're in it to win the thing. When your're ranked No.1 - and your're ranked No.1 all year - it can be a distraction. But it didn't get into our heads and now we've put ourselves in position, in the final eight and we've beaten three teams down there.

What do you expect from Bakersfield? They press for 40 minutes; the Van Wahlberg system - dribble penetration and kick the ball out. We have to get back on defense, take care of the ball and not get into foul trouble.

Did losing a step short of state last year motivate this year's team? We only have two sophomores on this year's team, so I don't think so. It does leave a sality feeling, but this is such a different team.

Would bringing home a championship tarnish what you accomplished this season? No, I don't think so. I think it's really important to go into this thing and play well. I've seen too many teams with the No.1 target on their back play not to lose. I think the guys are really good at playing in that role...They trust each other and I'm not going to change anything up.

Men's basketball team breeze their way to Elite Eight in State tournament

The Guardsman, Paul Wertheim, March 12, 2008.

Sophomore guard Brandon Wiley scored 19 points as the top-ranked Rams men's basktball team trounced the eighth-seeded Los Medanos College Mustangs 77-57 in the third round of the men's state basketball championship on March 8.

The Rams (29-3) set the pace and went on a 22-5 run in the first 11 minutes and 17 seconds of the game. The Mustangs (25-9) came out cold, missing 11 of their first 12 shots.

Rams 6-foot-2 shooting guard Robert Owens got the hold hand early, draining five of six field goal attempts, grabbing eight rebounds in the first half and scoring 11 points on the night.

"We gave it all we got tonight," Owens said. "Our goal is just to get to the state championship game and win it all. We're still humble. If we play as a unit, we can't be stopped."

The weekend before in the second round of the playoffs on March 1, the Rams breezed the past the sixteenth-seeded Lassem College Cougars (19-14) 112-70 at the Wellness Center Gymnasium. Freshman shooting guard Roburt Sallie had 22 points, and Owens scored 20. The Rams carried that momentum into the third round.

"It's good to see we're picking it up during playoff time," Sallie said. "It's just going to get tougher and tougher,"

The Rams led by as many as 28 points in the second half. Head coach Justin Labagh rested freshman guard Justin Brownlee who had the flu and got hurt early in the game. Brownlee had five points on the night, well below his 17.5 point season average.

The Mustangs never contained the rams offense and looked bewildered during the first half. Poor shooting and turnovers undermined their efforts to generate offense against the Rams aggressive zone defense. Three of the Rams starters had double figures, and 6-foot-4 freshman guard Tyrone Cook came off the bench to score 10 points.

The Rams head to the California Community College State Final Eight on March 13, in Stockton, California to face the fourth seeded Bakersfield Community College.

"I hope we can win it all this time," assistant coach Adam D'Acquisto said. "The way we've been palying, there's no reason we should not."

CCSF is No.1 seed for state

The Examiner, Staff, March 11, 2008.

The City College of San Francisco men's basketball team is the No.1 seed for the California Community College Athletic Association tournament this week at the University of Pacific in Stockton.

The Rams (29-3), the top NorCal team, will face Bakersfield (21-14) in Friday's 5 p.m. quarterfinal.

The winner advances to Saturday's semifinal against either Fullerton (26-5) or Yuba (32-3). Citrus (32-1) is the top SoCal team and faces Sequoias (22-9) in its quarterfinal. The winner advances to play the winner of the game between Los Angeles Trade Tech (27-4) and Fresno (30-7).

Men's basketball team secures No.1 spot upcoming in playoffs

Paul Wertheim, The Guardsman, February 27, 2008.

The Rams men's basketball suffered their only conference loss at the hands of Las Positas Hawks 78-75 on January 30 in Livermore. In their final regular season game at the Wellness Center Gymnasium on February 22, the Rams (27-3, 11-1) took revenge and beat the Hawks 72-68 clinching the North-coast conference and securing a No.1 seed in the conference playoffs.

"We felt we had to come out and revenge ourselves after losing to them," freshman guard Justing Brownlee said.

Four starters for the Rams had double figures that night. Freshman guard Roburt Sallie had a 14-point outing, just shy of his 15.3 point season average. Brownlee led the team in scores it 18 points, one notch above his 17.5 season average output.

Sophomore shooting guard Brandon Wiley had 10 points, and 6-foot-2 sophomore guard Robert Owens scored 16. The Rams bench added 14 points.

"It's nice not having to share the conference title with Ohlone," Sallie said.

Las Positas came out early in the first half with an up-tempo offense and shot 58 percent from the 3-point line. The Rams fell behind by 9-points after the Hawks (14-16,5-7) shut the Rams out of the key with tough rebounding and aggressive man-to-man defense, converting turnovers into fast-break scoring.

Sallie kept the Rams in the game draining back-to-back 23 foot 3-pointers late in the first half and leading the offense to a 9-0 run with two minutes and 15 seconds left in the half. The Rams took a two-point lead to the locker room.

The Rams got into foul trouble in the second half, committing seven team fouls by the 11 minute mark. The Rams bench players kep the score close while Sallie and Owens sat out.

Brownlee's 10-point second half effort put the Rams up by as many as 11 points, but the Hawk's freshman shooting guard, 5-9 Joe Faumuina, got the hot hand from the 3-point line and brought the Hawks back to within one point of the lead with one minute and 24 seconds left in the game.

Wiley, who ranks ninth in the state with a .443 3-point average, got hot from the corner going 3-for-3 from the 3 point line in the final minutes of the game.

Down three points with 58 seconds left in regulation, Sallie missed a 10-foot baseline jump-shot. On the ensuing Hawks inbound pass, 6-foot-4 freshmen forward Xavier Lewis traveled and gave the ball back to the Rams with a 68-65 one possession lead.

Sallie dribbled into the upcourt and shot a pass to Brownlee in the post. Brownlee missed the easy lay-up and in the melee for the rebound under the basket, grabbed his own rebound and slam dunked the ball over the heads of the Hawks. The crowd erupted with cheers. A few desperation 3-point attempts failed to bring the Hawks a last second victory.

Northern California Playoffs: #1 CCSF vs. #16 Lassen

CCSF Webwriter, February 27, 2008.

Come watch the Rams take on the #16 seed Lassen College on Saturday, March 1st @ 7PM. The Rams are the #1 seed in the NorCal Playoffs.

CCSF teammates deal with mothers' illnesses

Jake Curtis, SF Chronicle, February 21, 2008.

Choo Owens, a smooth, skinny, sweet-shooting guard, and Brandon Wiley, a tough, do-the-dirty-work garbage man, are about as different as two players can be.

But besides being starters for City College of San Francisco, the second-ranked team in the state, they have one thing in common: They have mothers with breast cancer.

"Yeah, coach told us about that last year, that both our mothers had breast cancer," Owens said. "I didn't know his situation. I think it brought us a lot closer."

Owens' mother, Kesha Lawrence, has had two surgeries and is undergoing radiation treatments. She comes to games when she is able, sometimes getting a ride from a CCSF assistant coach.

"She's hanging in there," Owens said. "She's the strongest woman I know. She believes, so it's my job to believe."

Wiley's mother, Jeanine Wiley, is undergoing chemotherapy, and has been to a few games, too.

"On her good days, she comes," Wiley said. "But she's definitely getting better, so I worry a little less."

It adds responsibility for Owens and Wiley, each of whom is a sophomore and the oldest child in his family. For Wiley, a Pinole Valley High School alumnus whose father works nights, it means getting up around 6 a.m. so he can drive his 16-year-old sister to school. Then Wiley takes BART for the 45-minute ride to CCSF for classes before hitting the basketball office for video sessions, followed by practice. By the time he gets home, it's after 7 p.m.

It's a similar schedule for Owens, a graduate of Oakland's Skyline High School who has three siblings.

He keeps an eye on his sisters, who are 7 and 10, helps his mother out when she needs it, and buoys the spirits of his 17-year-old brother, who is particularly close to his mother.

"It has hit him the hardest," Owens said. "I just tell him, 'That's life. It happens,' and that we can't let her see us lose it."

Owens' real first name is Robert, but he so loved a toy train he got on his very first Christmas, he was dubbed Choo-choo. That was shortened to Choo, which sounds a bit like what Owens does best - shoot.

So accurate is he from long range that Kentucky representatives are scheduled to take a look at him this week as a possible zone-breaker. The Kentucky coaches also will observe CCSF's Justin Browlee, a slick 6-foot-5 guard who can turn an errant alley-oop pass into something spectacular. Brownlee, a freshman from Georgia, is the most talented player on the team, and Kansas, as well as Kentucky, is interested.

Freshman guard Roburt Sallie is already lined up to go to Nebraska, and Wiley and Owens figure to be headed to Division I programs as well.

Wiley, who stands 6-6, is the least flashy of the bunch. He does a little bit of everything. Besides being a double-digit scorer, he is among the state leaders in rebounding and leads the state in blocked shots, despite being a guard. He takes on the big-man duties, though, because CCSF 's top seven scorers, including all five starters, are guards.

Justin Labagh, in his fifth season as CCSF's coach, says this might be his best team.

"It's the most talented and the smartest," he said.

The Rams are 26-3, with one of those losses being a forfeit to Contra Costa College in December. That resulted after the Rams' players were involved in a fracas with Los Angeles Trade Tech players in the previous game, necessitating a forfeit in the ensuing game.

The game against L.A. Trade Tech was halted and recorded as no contest, but it's worth noting that Trade Tech is the state's top-ranked community college team this week, just ahead of CCSF, which was No. 1 last week. CCSF still ranks No. 1, ahead of Trade Tech by the slimmest of margins, in the state RPI rankings.

It would make for an intriguing matchup if they should meet in the state championship game next month.

First, though, is the matter of getting some payback in Friday's regular-season finale against Los Positas College, which handed the Rams their only conference loss in a major upset earlier this month.

CCSF christens new gym with victory

Lars Russell, The Examiner, January 26, 2008.

City College of San Francisco opened its new campus athletic facility Friday with a 78-70 win over Skyline in the men’s basketball team’s first game in the building.

Freshman Justin Brownlee dominated the box score with 20 points on 10-of-18 shooting. He added four assists and four steals for the 21-1 Rams, now undefeated in their new home.

“That put a little bit of hot sauce on it,” Brownlee said. “The excitement of the new gym, it was brighter in there and big.”

Coach Justin Labagh said CCSF failed to shoot as well as usual, going 31-of-65, because of trouble adjusting to the greater depth of the arena.

The basketball court takes up half of a large gymnasium room in the complex, which includes swimming pools, dance studios, karate studios and weight training and exercise machines, all available for student fitness and physical education. Until the new gym opened with the first day of classes two weeks ago, CCSF’s athletic facilities were limited to small fieldhouses on the eastern edge of campus.

“It was hard for people to even dare to take a class there,” CCSF Chancellor Phil Day said. “[Now] registration for the fitness center is almost overwhelming, in terms of student traffic and people in the community using the building.”

Day said the building took nearly two years to finish, with the process aided by largely favorable weather. But the weather did not cooperate Friday, with rain coming in sheets throughout the early evening, probably keeping many fans from traveling to the arena’s inaugural game.

One who did make it to his seat was Gerald Hargraves, a former CCSF student and teacher and brother of San Francisco Golden Gloves champion. He called the new gym “a big improvement.”

“I don’t know if it’s better for the players, but it’s a lot nicer,” Hargraves said. “It’s beautiful. I’m sure they put a lot of money into it. It almost gives it a big-college feel.”

Justin Browlee scores 32 points to lift Rams over Chabot Gladiators in lackluster way

Paul Wertheim, The Guardsman, January 16, 2008.

The Rams men's basketball team beat their conference rivals, the Chaot Gladiators, 70-65 in the south gym January 11, extending a 9 game winning streak that started December 14.

The team relied on the stellar play of freshman forward Justing Brownlee, who scored 32 points and had 11 rebounds and four assists.

The Rams (18-2, 2-0) found themselves in foul trouble early in the game. Freshman guard Roburt Sallie committed two fouls in the first two minutes and spent the first half on the bench. Sallie still managed a 12-point effort while grabbing five rebounds.

"After being down in the first half," Sallied said, "we had to make some adjustments. Most of our starting five were in foul trouble, so we couldn't have all our starters out there at once."

Assistant coach Adam D'Acquisto put the victory squarley on the shoulders of Brownlee's performance.

"We're lucky Justin had a big game," D'Acquisto said. "We're still waiting for our whole team to play together and not make mistakes. When all five starters show up and play their best, we'll be unbeatable.

Sophomore guard Brandon Wiley had a tough game, playing well below his 16-point average by scoring four points and getting only three rebounds, down from his average of eight per game.

The rams went back to the locker room at the half down a basket. It looked like the Gladiators (15-8,1-1) were going to dominate the Rams early in the second half. Then the Rams picked up the pace and manufactured an impressive 12-3 run led by Brownlee's inside penetration and speed. The Rams led 53-44.

After a Chabot time out, the Gladiators battled back with a four-minute, 13-3 run that leveled the game and gave them a 57-56 lead with just four minutes left on the clock.

"We're the best team in the state," said Sallie after the game. "If we keep playing these close games, they're going to bite us in the butt."

The Rams are ranked No.1 in the state and will play the Ohlone College Renegades (11-7, 1-0) in their final game at the South Gym on January 16 at 7:30 pm. The Rams will move to their new facility in the Wellncess Center, closing an era that started when the South Gym first opened in 1940.

Guards are Ram tough

Lee Hubbard, The Examiner. December 15, 2007.

For the past three seasons Justin Labagh has been the men’s basketball coach at City College of San Francisco, he has always been able to count on having a good team, with nice frontcourt size on the court and on the bench. However, Labagh has a very different CCSF team this year.

“In the past, we would usually have two post guys and run two posts in and three guards out on the perimeter,” Labagh said. “Then we would have two post guys on the bench to replace the other posts. This year, we do not have any of that.”

Coming off a 27-6 season and a spot in the state Sweet 16, the Rams are 7-1 and averaging 93 points per game entering this weekend’s tournament at San Jose City College. That success is because of a strong backcourt.

“This year’s team is guard-orientated as we have some really good guards,” Labagh said.

Leading the way for the guards are 6-foot-3 sophomore Robert Owens and 6-5 sophomore Brandon Wiley, the only two returners from last season’s team. CCSF also has super-talented guards in 6-5 freshman Roburt Sallie and 6-6 Justin Brownlee.

“These four are key guys on this team,” said Labagh, noting all four are Division I prospects.

Owens is a point guard who is a knock-down shooter from the perimeter. A graduate of Skyline High School in Oakland, Owens was heavily recruited, drawing interest from St. Mary’s, USF, Southern Cal and Fresno State, among others. Owens came off the bench and averaged 14 points a game last season and has bumped that up to a team-best 20.9 this season.

Wiley was not a heralded player coming out of Pinole Valley High School in Pinole. But through hard work and countless hours in the gym, Wiley has turned himself into a Division I prospect. He is a solid outside shooter who is long and athletic. He is putting up 13 points a game.

Sallie and Brownlee are probably two of the more heralded junior college freshmen in California. Sallie, from Valley High School in Sacramento, is a versatile guard who is a prolific scorer and player in the mold of Detroit Pistons guard Rip Hamilton. Sallie can shoot well (he is averaging 15.5 points per game), handle the ball and make plays defensively.

He committed to Washington coming out of Valley, but he didn’t get admitted and ended up going to Laurinberg (NC) prep school for a year. He later verbally committed to Nebraska, but had paperwork problems. He enrolled at CCSF last year, taking a part-time schedule.

Brownlee is from Tifton, Ga., and is a scorer who has an NBA body and athleticism from the wing spot. He was being recruited by various Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference programs and should be an immediate impact player.

“I hope to bring rebounding and scoring to this City College team,” said Brownlee, who is averaging 18.1 points per game. “I want to play solid defense and help the team win.”