FC FINISHES OFF RIVERSIDE CITY

In the final regular season game of 2024, the No. 2 in state Hornets hosted Orange Empire Conference rival Riverside City College on Wednesday night and outlasted the Tigers 66-53.

The first half began with the Hornets taking a decent 20-10 lead that that ended with a jumper by Addy G'Bye at 9:05. The Tigers had other plans as the team went on a 17-10 run using strong defense to their advantage. By the 4:05 mark, Deacon Toliver's layup handed Riverside a 27-25 lead. The rest of the half was a tug-of-war that ended in a 29-29 tie.

Christian Watson opened the second half with a nice drive to the basket as Fullerton pushed ahead with its largest lead of the game (14) by 7:24. Godfrey Little's three-pointer lifted the Hornets up 57-43 as FC held off the Tigers averaging a ten-point lead to finish it.

After the game, FC head coach Perry Webster was honored with a plaque by the Hornet PE/Athletics Department for earning his 200th career win. Webster hit this mark in only eight seasons, which is the quickest in school history.

Jeremiah Davis was the game's scoring leader with 20 points. He also had 3 rebounds and 5 assists. Amound Anderson II scored 13, had 3 rebounds, and 3 assists. Godfrey Little added 11 points with 3 assists, and JQ Strong scored 8 in a wining effort.

Up Next: No. 2 Fullerton College conference champs (24-4 overall, 15-1 OEC) await their fate for the SoCal Regional playoffs. Stay tuned as the Hornets are hunting for the top seed in the South in order host throughout. With the outright championship of the Orange Empire Conference achieved, the Hornets have one more thing to accomplish before the CCCAA State Playoffs begin - to earn the #1 seed. The seeding process looks at 5 criteria to determine which schools qualify for the post season and then rank those qualifying schools. Of the 54 schools in the southern half of the state, only 24 will make it to postseason play. On Sunday February 25, representatives from each of the 7 conferences in the south will meet to review the body of work for all the teams and then seed each team from #1- #24. A top seed would grant the Hornets a bye in round 1 and then set up a home game on Saturday March 2nd against the winner of teams seeded #16/ #17. There is a log jam of teams with quality resumes and no matter where the Hornets land, there not be any easy games - but there is no doubt the #1 seed is an advantage.

*Photo by Jim McCormack