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WALNUT - In a game of runs in the 3C2A Men's Basketball Championship game, West Valley College came away with the biggest run of the day to pull off its first title in program history.

The 11-1 run to end the game gave the Vikings a 59-51 victory over College of the Sequoias on Sunday afternoon at Mt. San Antonio College to become just the fifth team in state history to finish the season undefeated with a 33-0 record.

The run was highlighted by two big defensive rebounds by All-Tournament West Valley Center Shakir Odunewu and a basket and two free throws by Tournament MVP Elijah Mahi.

"I remember coach told us it took us two years to win the state championship," Mahi said. "It was a lot of hard work, and I couldn't give enough thanks to coach Danny (Yoshikawa) and our assistant coaches.

Four of the five current Vikings starters were a part of the team that lost in last year's quarterfinal round.

The defense, of course, was a big part of the title for the Vikings with their height and Mahi accentuated that point of his teammates, saying, "We just stuck to our principles and locked in our defense and if we took our time, we could get whatever we wanted on offense."

The title game was the sixth for the Vikings, dating back to 1992. Three championship game appearances ('92, '95, 96) were under former coach and CCCMBCA Hall of Famer Bob Burton and Yoshikawa ('06, '22, '24).

"To be very honest with you, I don't think I'll know for another week," said Yoshikawa, of what the title meant to the school. "For me, it's long overdue. Our program has been an elite program for a long time. I think about all the players that came before this team and all of them who played under coach Burton."

Mahi ended up with a game-high 30 points for the Vikings while Odunewu added 13 and All-Tournament selection Jeremiah Dargan had nine. Mahi also had a big quarterfinal game with 26 points.

"I'm super excited and (darn), I mean 33-0, an unbelievable season, making history for my teammates, I'm just happy right now," Dargan said.

COS was led by sophomore guard Jose Cuello, an All-Tourney selection, with a team-high 27 points (10-22 FGM-A), along with Alex Argandar's 12 points.

Also named to the All-Tourney team from COS was sophomore forward Cameron Clark.

The Vikings' height contributed to a game-high 24 points in the paint and 19 points off turnovers.

In the early portion of the first half, West Valley came out on fire with a 13-5 advantage. The run was highlighted by three baskets by Mahi and a 3-pointer by Ragen.

"It feels great," said Ragen, of the perfection put up by the Vikings. "Genuinely, I think anything else I think I would have been more surprised, and we earned this (championship)."

COS answered with a spurt of its own with a 10-2 run to take its first lead, 17-15, on two free throws by Argandar with 5:33 left in the opening half. Nesbit started the run with a long 2-point basket and Jaylon Lee added two baskets.

The Giants led by a point at the intermission, 27-26.

Mahi led all scorers with 17 (6-9 FGM-A) first-half points for West Valley, while Cuello led the Giants with 15, which included three 3-pointers.

The Vikings started fast after the intermission with an 11-1 run highlighted by a dunk by Mahi to open the half.

Argandar broke the run for the Giants with two consecutive 3's in just over a minute and Cuello added another trey for a 11-0 run of their own to take a 39-37 lead with 10:38 left.

After the 14-1 run by the Giants, Dargan hit a 3-pointer to close within a point, 42-41, with 6:22 remaining.

RIVERSIDE - Gabe Panikoski kicked a 23-yard field goal as time expired to give host Riverside City College a 24-21 victory over defending champion College of San Mateo in the 3C2A Football State Championship game Saturday afternoon at Wheelock Stadium.

Riverside (12-1), appearing in a fourth consecutive state championship game, had to respond after the Bulldogs (11-2) completed a 78-yard drive with 2:01 remaining to tie it with a 1-yard run on a direct snap to Valentino Foni (his second such tally of the game). That was set up by a 19-yard third-down pass from Anthony Grigsby to Tyler Bourland, who made a spectacular one-handed catch, that just missed getting into the end zone.

Tigers quarterback Jordan Barton took control after the kickoff, marching from his own 25 to the 6-yard line. The final dramatics were set up by Barton's 17-yard scramble to the seven (from the CSM 24), going out of bounds with nine seconds remaining. Barton, after a 1-yard run to the six, took his final timeout with four seconds to go, setting up Panikoski for the game-winner.

"I thought it was going to go into overtime," said Riverside coach Tom Craft. "But Barton was resourceful. He's been doing that all year."

The ending dramatics also reminded Craft of some history. "We did the same thing 30 years ago to beat San Francisco in the title game," said Craft, who was the Palomar College coach at that time. "We won it on a field goal with three seconds left."

Barton completed 22 of 31 passes for 201 yards, ran (and scrambled) 18 times for 114 yards and two touchdowns - to earn game MVP honors. Riverside running back Bryce Strong rushed for 76 yards and a TD on 16 carries and caught 9 passes for 97 yards - to gain offensive player of the game recognition. The Bob Stangel defensive player of the game was RCC frosh lineman Esaia Bogar with 8 tackles, including a 15-yard sack, and a QB hurry.

Grigsby was the game-passing leader with 236 yards, completing 19-of-26 throws, including a TD. He led the Bulldogs on a 65-yard drive with their first possession after CSM -held the Tigers to a quick initial 3-and-out. A 38-yard Grigsby to Fidel Pitts pass was the big play on the drive, completed with Foni's 3-yard run.

Riverside responded with a 75-yard drive that the Bulldogs appeared to halt at their own 4-yard line. The Tigers had settled for Panikowski's successful 21-yard field goal. The Bulldogs were called for holding, however, and Craft took the points off the board. Now at the two, Strong rushed quickly into the end zone to tie it.

On their next possession, Barton took the Tigers 83 yards in nine plays, scrambling for the final 10 yards with a leap into the end zone for a 14-7 lead early in the second quarter.

San Mateo, however, was determined to tie it at the half. Grigsby took the Bulldogs 65 yards in the final 1:09 of the period, connecting with Pitts on a 42-yard play to get things started and finishing with a 3-yard toss to Terence Loville for the equalizer.

The game remained knotted into the fourth quarter. Barton got things going by engineering a 62-yard drive - capped by his own 14-yard run for a 21-14 advantage with 9:50 remaining.

Led by Strong and Barton, Riverside rushed for 221 yards against the usually stingy Bulldogs and had a total offense of 422 yards.

San Mateo had 111 yards on the ground (with Sanchez and White each netting 46 yards) and 254 passing for 365 total yards. Pitts caught 4 passes for 115 yards and Loville 4 for 43.

Arona Mata'u led CSM on defense with 9 solo tackles and 3 assists.

Riverside captured its second all-time championship, joining its 2019 win, also over CSM. The Bulldogs were looking to be the state's first back-to-back champion since Mt. San Antonio in 2009 and 2010.