Nor Cal JC scores from Saturday

Below are the scores from Saturday's matchups involving northern California squads:

* Fresno City College 63 - Porterville College 56

The Fresno Bee:

"Fresno City College is a step closer to another Central Valley Conference men’s basketball title after James O’Neal scored 19 points in the Rams’ 61-56 win at Porterville on Saturday night.

The Rams (24-3, 8-0), seeking a 14th consecutive CVC crown, hold a three-game lead over Sequoias and Columbia with four games remaining.

Nick Hilton chipped in with 17 points, hitting five 3-pointers to push his team-leading total to 56.

Tyrone Hall led the Pirates (6-16, 3-5) with 13 points."

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* Butte College 80 - College of the Redwoods 67 box

For BC: Nikolas Petruk posted a 22 point, 10 rebound line, Michael (Corning High) Shoemaker earned a 22 point, 16 rebound double-double, Jud (Orland High) Sailsbery scored 19 points alongside seven assists and Arthur (Salinas High) Cardwell went for 17.

For COR: Melvin Washington led with 21 points.

From COR athletics:

College of the Redwoods went on a 9-0 run late in the second half to cut a 10-point deficit to one in Oroville on Saturday, but the men ‘s basketball team fell to first-place Butte 80-67 to snap the Corsairs’ four-game Golden Valley Conference win streak.

Redwoods trailed by five at halftime, 39-34, and after falling behind by 10 midway through the second half, the Corsairs made a run to make it a one-point game with more than five minutes remaining.

“It was a battle,” said CR head coach Justin Mora. “Butte’s the best team in our league and we had chances to win but we just came up a bit short.”

With the loss, CR (4-4 in the GVC and 10-13 overall) is eliminated from championship contention, and with the win, Butte secures at least a share of its second consecutive GVC title.

“We battled the whole way,” Mora said. “It was closer than the score indicates, we gave them a scare for sure, but I’m just proud of how we battled.”

CR freshman Melvin Washington, who started his sixth straight game on Saturday and was averaging 18 points a game over his last three starts, had a team-high 18 points, while Johnny Shelton scored 13 and Justin Claus hit two 3-pointers, finishing with 10 points. “Melvin’s playing great,” Mora said. “He was attacking the basket and drawing fouls, but give Butte credit, they got the baskets when they needed them.”

CR was down five with three minutes remaining in the game, but Butte closed out the victory at the free-throw line to win comfortably.

Butte (8-0 in the GVC and 17-7 overall) is currently the No.8 ranked team in the state and is on an 18-game win streak inside the GVC.

“We’re just going to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Mora said. “We were on a four-game win streak and had our chances again today, but it just didn’t go our way. We’re just going to keep working.”

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* Columbia College 64 - Reedley College 52

The Fresno Bee: "Michael Meserole scored 20 points and Columbia rallied from a two-point halftime deficit to win 64-52 at Reedley. Walter Orr scored 13 points and Shakor Major had nine points and seven rebounds for Reedley, which missed 9 of 16 free throws."

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* College of the Siskiyous 84 - Feather River College 82

* Lassen College 72 - Shasta College 63