Columbia falls to Sierra in NorCal men’s basketball first round

Columbia College’s first appearance in the Northern California men’s basketball playoffs since 2002 lasted one game.

Sierra of Rocklin pulled away in the final 12 minutes Wednesday night to eliminate the Claim Jumpers 75-66 at Oak Pavilion in Sonora.

Columbia (16-12) trailed for most of the game but rallied from a 12-point deficit and tied the score with 12 minutes to go. The Wolverines, paced by sophomore Antonio Lewis with 21 points and freshman guard Rashard Thornhill with 20 points, took charge from that point.

The Claim Jumpers, fourth-place finishers in the Central Valley Conference, were led by Mike Meserole – one of only two sophomores on the team – with 19 points. Deandre Stallings had 16 points and Bosten Van der Veur finished with 10.

Sierra (14-14), which rallied from a difficult nonleague season to finish second in the Big 8 Conference, travels to top-seeded City College of San Francisco (27-1) on Saturday night.

Bee Sports staff

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 11:56 PM with the headline "Columbia falls to Sierra in NorCal men’s basketball first round."