The state's #1 defense will take the court Thursday against the #5 offense in the 3:00pm game of the CCCAA State Championship Tournament at West Hills College-Lemoore. The defense belongs to north #4 seed West Valley and south #1 Fullerton owns the offense, but either squad also can put up points and shut down opponents with regularity. The Vikings allow opponents a state-best 61.1 points-per-game in 30 contests, while the Hornets pour in 87.8 PPG, also in 30 2022-23 games.

The Vikings (26-4) reached their second straight CCCAA championship tournament with an 88-75 NorCal title win over Las Positas last Saurday. They rallied past Porterville 67-60 in the regional semifinal. The Vikings are led by one of the state's premier players, Elijah Mahi, who leads the team with 17.5 PPG, to go along with 6.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 blocks a game. Jeremiah Dargan leads the team with 3.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game, along with 14.3 PPG and 6.9 RPG. Malik Patton leads the Vikings with 7.2 boards per game. As a team, WVC pulls down 41.0 RPG and hands out 16.2 APG. They shoot at a 48.4% clip.

The Hornets (29-1) come into the tournament with a 22-game winning streak, earning a tourney berth with a 106-71 SoCal semifinal win over West LA and a 77-74 SoCal title win over San Diego City. Kobe Newton tops the Hornets in scoring at 13.9 PPG and averages 3.5 RPG and 1.9 APG. Sean Newman Jr. has a 13.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 5.7 APG stat line, while Shaquil Bender logs 13.4 PPG and 3.1 RPG. Mike Ofoegbu leads the team with 4.4 RPG. Fullerton averages 37.2 RPG, 16.9 APG and has a 49.7 FG%.

The CCCAA State Championship Tournament is at West Hills College-Lemoore March 9-12. Complete tournament information is available at "Tournament Central" on the CCCAA website: https://cccaa.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/Championships