On Thursday, March 3, the CVC Champion COS men’s and women’s basketball teams defeated their opponents to advance further in the California State playoffs. The men played against College of the Redwoods at 7:30 on Thursday, while the women played against Modesto Junior College.

Both teams are just one win away from obtaining a berth in the Elite Eight, with the men’s team playing Contra Costa at home on Saturday, March 5, and the women’s team playing San Francisco on the road that same day.

As for the games on Thursday, the two teams took separate routes to secure their victories, with the women’s team being up for most of their game, and the men’s team being more toe to toe with their opponent until the last 10 minutes of the game.

Even though the women’s team finished the first period of their game against Modesto with a scoreline of 23-17, there seemed to be some miscommunication between players with missed passes, missed shots, and a sense of incoordination that plagued them.

“I think we were just going too fast, not looking up, not being ready for the ball, and I think once they settled down they were able to make a couple passes and execute a bit better,” noted Head Coach Ray Alvarado.

Execute is exactly what they did in the rest of the first half, building on the lead and adding on 24 more points before halftime, while only allowing eight in the second half.

With the score at 47-25 come halftime, the Giants didn’t take their foot off the gas pedal for the rest of the game, never giving up the lead for the remainder of the night.

Finishing the game at a decisive 89-61, the second half was pure domination from COS. Even though Modesto scored more in the second half than in the first, it wasn’t necessarily due to a lapse from the Giants defense but was the women’s team holding back a potent Modesto offense.

“I felt that the game was going to be a lot closer, but I think they followed the game plan and were very exceptional at locking in on their assignments on certain players that we wanted to guard really heavily” Alavardo would go on to add.

As for the men’s game that took place that night, it was more of the status quo that we have come to expect from COS basketball: domination. Although it took a little bit to get to that point.

Through the first half, it was possibly some of the most competitive basketball that the Giants have had to play this year, with the Giants barely edging them out 37-34 when the buzzer rang.

A half as close as this, on a stage as big as this, got Head Coach Dallas Jensen fired up on the sidelines. There was a lot to be said on how the performance of his players wasn’t matching what they prepared for.

“I just think that everything that we prepared for to play against the College of the Redwoods we shied away from in the first half. I don’t think we rebounded particularly well, we were taking too many perimeter jump shots, we weren’t communicating defensively, and we just weren’t playing our brand of basketball.”

Ryan Johnson, the CVC MVP and often the leading scorer for the Giants also weighed in on their struggles in the first half.

“In the first half we were just doing a lot of dumb stuff, not running what we were supposed to do, and come out in the second half we started doing what we worked for these past couples days.”

Come out in the second half is what they did, scoring a massive 51 points compared to Redwoods’ 30, ending the game with a confident scoreline of 88-64 in favor of the Giants.

“We addressed a lot of the problems at halftime and on the offensive end there was a big emphasis to get paint touches and play inside out, and just simplify the game and I think we did a better job of that overall,” added Coach Jensen.

Considering how COS hadn’t played a competitive game since February 18th, it is a great refresher to get back out there and get ready to bust into the Elite Eight and win the state championship.

Make sure to come out for the Giants home game on Saturday, March 4 at 7:30. Keep up to date with all COS news here on The Campus by following us on Twitter, Instagram, and our other socials!