SACRAMENTO — One of Lake County”s all-time scoring leaders in high school basketball is now a state champion.
Ryan Richardson, a 2010 Clear Lake High School graduate, participated in Fresno City College”s 77-62 victory over Yuba College on Sunday night in the California Community College Athletic Association men”s championship game at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento.
A first-year player for the Rams (33-3), Richardson didn”t score but did play in the victory over the 49ers. Fresno City was the No. 5 seed going into the state playoffs but beat Modesto 102-61, Diablo Valley College 74-48 and Cabrillo 70-64 to reach the Final Four.
In the Final Four semifinals against the Citrus Owls, the No. 1-ranked team in the South, Fresno City scored a 71-69 upset to earn a berth in the championship game against Yuba City, the No. 1-ranked team out of the North.
Fresno State completed its championship run behind 17 points from Alex Perez and 10 from Marcus Hall. The Rams took the lead for good at 46-45 on a turnaround bank shot with 12 minutes remaining, sparking a 17-6 run.
Richardson ranks fifth on Lake County”s list of all-time scoring leaders with 1,463 points. He is third all-time among boys (first at Clear Lake) and is the only county player to ever score 600 or more points in a season twice (652 his senior year and 628 his junior year).
A three-sport star (football, basketball and baseball) at Clear Lake, Richardson was named Lake County”s male athlete of the year following the 2009-10 season.
