4 STRAIGHT TICKET PUNCHES TO THE STATE DANCE!
The No. 1 South-ranked Fullerton College Hornets will move on to the 3C2A State Tournament for the fourth straight season after knocking off No. 8 West LA College 87-68 in front of the home crowd Saturday night.
The No. 1 South-ranked Fullerton College Hornets will move on to the 3C2A State Tournament for the fourth straight season after knocking off No. 8 West LA College 87-68 in front of the home crowd Saturday night.
The victory punches Fullerton's ticket to the state tournament for the 21st time in program history, dating back to the program's beginnings in 1916. The Hornets first made their mark on the tournament in its inaugural year in 1954 in Visalia, where the team placed fourth overall under FC Hall of Fame head coach Alex Omalev.
Fittingly, this year's tournament will once again be held in Visalia, this time under current head coach Perry Webster, who recently surpassed Omalev for the program's all-time career wins record with 263 victories. Saturday night's win marked No. 264 for Webster further extending his place atop the program's record book.
The appearance also marks the sixth time in the last ten seasons that Fullerton College has advanced to the state tournament under Webster's leadership.
Fullerton's lone loss this season came at the hands of West LA on November 19th, when the Wildcats handed FC a 92-86 defeat. The Hornets responded a few weeks later with a convincing 72-53 victory over West LA on December 13th. With Saturday night's win, Fullerton now holds the edge in the season series.
Yoda Oke led the Hornets scoring 23 points with 7 rebounds and 7 assists for an all-around game. Donovan Pitts followed with 18 points knocking down 4 three-pointers, while Brayden Smith contributed 13 points and 8 rebounds. Jaqari Miles added 13 points off the bench, and Trey Thompson chipped in 8 points along 5 assists.
The Hornets were strong across the board statistically shooting 48.4 percent from the field while hitting 10 three-pointers overall. Fullerton also controlled the glass 44-36 and moved the ball effectively with 26 assists.
West LA finished the season 21-8 overall, while the Hornets improved to 29-1 on the year.
Up Next: The No. 1 Hornets (29-1 overall) will head north to the campus of the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California, where they compete in the 3C2A State Championship Tournament March 13-15. No. 1 South Fullerton will face No. 4 North San Jose to open the tournament on Friday, March 13th at 1:00 pm.