Fresno City men advance in NorCal playoffs

BY ANTHONY GALAVIZ, The Fresno Bee

Just last season, the Fresno City College men's basketball team entered the NorCal Regional as the No. 2 seed.

The Rams faced No. 15 Merritt and ended up losing that game.

This time, Fresno City didn't want any part of that.

The second-seeded Rams rallied from an eight-point deficit to defeat No. 15 Foothill 73-61 in the second round of the regional playoffs Saturday night.

"We played well when it counted," Fresno City coach Ed Madec said. "Defense intensity started to wear them down. Have to give Foothill credit. (Matt Stanley) is a great young coach. He told me that this is the best they've played all year."

Fresno City (29-2) trailed 52-44 in the second half before taking the lead on Rich Tesmer's layup with 3:35 remaining and held on from there.

"We're not living in the past," Tesmer said. "But we haven't forgot about it. Got to give it to Foothill. ... They played hard and battled, but we knew we were going to pull it out. We worked way too hard for our season to end, yet."

Fresno City will face No. 7 Cosumnes River on Wednesday.

Dejon Burdeaux led Fresno City with 18 points.