Then there were four

Four northern California JC teams remain in the running for the Final Two who will be heading down to Cerritos College to represent the upper half of the state in the championship tournament. The Saturday matchups are:

* Foothill College @ Merritt College

Coming off shooting 66% against City College of San Francisco, the Thunderbirds pair off with the Owls. Call it wanting to play uptempo versus a more deliberate pace -- whose style will ultimately prevail? It will be a back-and-forth battle if Coach Matt Stanley's guys can generate good looks and makes from three-point range.

These two teams met back on November 6 in the San Jose City College tournament with Merritt winning 65-61. The Owls are on a three-game win streak, having downed American River College 78-67, Fresno City College 72-64 and San Joaquin Delta College 55-52, all on the road. The Thunderbirds have compiled a seven-game win streak.

* Cañada College @ College of Marin

There's not much height between these two squads so no real advantage is there to be had. COM owns a 15-game win streak and it's a squad where five or six players could be the leading scorer each night. However, the same point distribution goes for Cañada.

COM is shooting a remarkable 51% as a team to 46% for the Colts, 41% to 33% from beyond the arc. The Mariners limit opponents to 41% shooting overall, Cañada 44%.