Reedley College's men's basketball team is in first place in the Central Valley Conference but will have to get past two teams ranked higher than the Tigers.

Coach T.J. Jennings' squad are ranked tied for 30th in the state's latest poll. On Wednesday, Jan. 15, the Tigers travel to Sonora to face the 10th ranked Columbia College Claim Jumpers before a Saturday meeting in Visalia against the 11th ranked College of the Sequoias Giants.

After that juggernaut, the Tigers come home on Saturday, Jan. 25 to face the team that beat both Columbia and Sequoias, the fifth-ranked Fresno City College Rams in a 5 p.m. game.

All this after the Tigers opened conference play with two teams that have combined for two wins this season, the West Hills Lemoore Golden Eagles and the winless West Hills Coalinga Falcons.

"You never underestimate your opponent because on any given night, it can go any way," said Coach Jennings. "But the weekend was what we wanted. Going it at 2-0 in a very tough CVC conference is exactly what we wanted to do.

"Now we're going to have a test in terms of Columbia, which is a fantastic team that is well-coached and plays extremely hard." The Claim Jumpers are coached by Rob Hoyt, a former assistant coach at Reedley.

"They are going to be hungry and they are going to be well prepared."

In the first 12 minutes against West Hills Coalinga, all eight Tigers had scored and six had made 3-pointers. "We're looking to penetrate and go inside-out. We knew it was going to be a zone and there would be opportunities to capitalize. I didn't want us to settle for 3-pointers but at the same time, those inside-out plays are exactly what we are looking for."

The Tigers have the two top scorers in the conference in Hassan Bolden (20.4 points per game) and Uriah Carter (20.0). Bolden also leads the CVC in rebounds per game at 10.3 while Richard Corona is tied for second in 3-point field goal percentage at 47.1.

By: Will Goldbeck