YUBA ROUNDUP: 49ers take BVC tourney

The Yuba College basketball team's dominance of the Bay Valley Conference over the past decade has been remarkable.

Consider this, since the 49ers' first BVC banner under coach Doug Cornelius in 2002-03, Yuba is 128-19 in conference play, including six straight conference titles.

A loss on Jan. 21, 2010 to Los Medanos was the last time Yuba tasted defeat in conference play. Since then, Yuba's been untouchable — 34 straight BVC wins.

Getting No. 35 on Friday night in the BVC Tournament championship game turned out to be the toughest challenge the 49ers faced at home all season.

The 49ers withstood an inspired effort from Contra Costa College and capped off their second straight undefeated BVC season with an 81-67 victory.

This was Yuba's closest BVC contest all season. The 49ers came into Friday's game with an average margin of victory of 31 points in conference play.

Facing Contra Costa's best shot is exactly what Cornelius wanted for his team with playoffs beginning a week from tonight.

"That's easily the best team that's come into our gym this year," Cornelius said. "We needed that so bad. We needed to be pushed. Hopefully, that gives the guys a little bit of a wake-up call."

Yuba (29-3, 14-0) will find out its playoff seed on Monday when the brackets are released. The 49ers will likely earn the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in Northern California and host a first-round matchup a week from tonight.

Contra Costa came out determined to pull off an upset and held a 12-11 lead early in the first half. Yuba responded with a 19-5 run and finished the half shooting 57 percent from the field — the Niners never trailed after that.

Yuba's biggest lead was 17 points in the second half with a 49-31 advantage before the Comets slowly worked their way back into contention.

The Comets cut Yuba's lead to 69-61 late in the game. Leading scorer Spencer Butterfield responded with a deep 3-pointer from the corner and Anthony Romero added two more on the Niners' next possession with a nifty reverse lay-up that brought the crowd to its feet.

"We didn't want a blowout, we wanted a good game," Cornelius said. "(Contra Costa) did not quit, they just kept coming and coming and hitting shot after shot, which is good.

"That's a playoff-type game right there."

Butterfield had a double-double for Yuba with a game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Point guard Cody Kale put up 17 points and dished out five assists, while Romero scored 10.

Kale, a Rocklin High product who transferred from Division-I Cal State Bakersfield this year, said he's enjoying basketball more than ever this year with this team's chemistry.

Another BVC banner to hang on the wall is nice, but the 49ers have much larger aspirations.

"Our only goal is a state championship and I think we've got the guys to do it," Kale said. "We have a lot of guys who can do a lot of different things; we're a pretty stacked team."

BASEBALL

Feather River 14, Yuba 2

The Golden Eagles pounded out 18 hits and crushed the 49ers at Gary Engelken Field in a nonconference game.

AZ Sutton and Chris Stocker each had RBI singles for the 49ers. Tyler Updike tripled and Davis Walker finished 2 for 4 and scored a run.

Yuba (3-4) continues its series with Feather River today in a doubleheader, beginning at 11 a.m.