By Ron Kroichick (SF Chronicle)/Photo by CCSF Athletics
Here’s one measure of head coach Justin Labagh’s emotional investment in his City College of San Francisco basketball team: He completely lost his voice over the weekend.
Labagh and the Rams also returned from Ventura with the California Community College Athletic Association championship. CCSF earned its second state title in three years, and third this decade, with an 82-72 victory over San Diego City College.
The win extended a staggering run of success for the Rams. They are 424-58 in Labagh’s 15 seasons at the school, with state championships in 2011, ’16 and ’18.
So if Labagh can’t talk right now, well, that seems like a modest sacrifice. He still found himself in a (silently) euphoric state in the aftermath of Sunday’s win.
“It was surreal after the game,” Labagh said by email. “The players were very emotional and completely drained, as they should be.”
CCSF finished its season at 33-1, on a 29-game winning streak. The Rams didn’t lose after falling to College of Sequoias way back on Nov. 17 at a tournament in Fresno.
This suggests a carefree jaunt to the championship, but that’s not exactly how it unfolded. CCSF trailed by 13 points with less than eight minutes left in Saturday’s semifinal game against Cerritos. The Rams cranked up their press, attacked the rim on offense and roared back to win 89-83.
Then, in Sunday’s title game, they trailed San Diego by one point at halftime — and responded with a 10-0 run to start the second half.
Eddie Stansberry, a 6-foot-3 sophomore from Riordan, led the way with 21 points; Michael Wright, a 6-6 sophomore from McClymonds-Oakland, had 19 points; and Lewis Hayes, a 6-6 sophomore from Chavez-Stockton, added 17 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Hayes came off the bench for the Rams and still was named MVP of the eight-team state championship tournament. This speaks to CCSF’s depth, a big factor all season. Freshman guard Niamey Harris, from Mission, was a key reserve.
The Rams also shared the ball on offense, averaging 20 assists per game (second in the state).
“I think great teams can beat you playing different styles — fast or slow,” Labagh said. “We press for 40 minutes against some opponents, and against others we pack it in and get back on defense. We play really good defense and use our bench down to our 10th man.”
Labagh dished credit to assistant coaches Adam D’Acquisto and Tom McNichol, who have been at CCSF since Labagh started there. That’s rare, for three coaches to work together on the same staff for 15 years.
The continuity is especially important given how much turnover JC programs endure. All but two players on this year’s team were sophomores, so the Rams practically will start from scratch next season.
Several players will move to bigger stages: guard Terrell Brown (from Oakland and Moreau Catholic-Hayward) is committed to New Mexico State and forward Michael Steadman (James Logan-Union City) will play at San Jose State. Stansberry, Wright and guard Eddy Ionescu (Miramonte-Orinda) also have received Division I offers, according to Labagh.
“Our success is based on getting kids out,” he said. “Kids can go to a lot of JCs and win 20 games. We navigate them through junior college, organize them and hold them accountable. That’s what separates us.
“I’ll talk to 20 different sets of parents this spring about their kids attending our school. None of them want to hear about wins. They want to know how we get these kids on a new track that will work.”
It’s working at CCSF.