Porterville College freshman Chirrag Sidhu scored a season-high 18 points to lead the Pirates in a 90-72 loss to No. 4 state-ranked Columbia College on Saturday at PC.
The Central Valley Conference defeat dropped the Pirates to 8-8 overall and 1-1 in the CVC. Columbia bounced back from its first loss of the season and improved to 15-1 and 1-1 in conference play.
Columbia led 48-34 at halftime and was able to hang on for the win. Shooting and rebounding proved to be the difference in the contest. PC made of 28 of 67 shots (42 percent) with 6 three-pointers while Columbia shot 37 of 64 for the game (58 percent) with 8 three-point buckets. The Claim Jumpers also outrebounded the Pirates by a 35-27 margin. Deshawn Bartley scored 30 points to lead all.
Sidhu added 7 rebounds and 2 assists to his 18 points for the Pirates. Dustin Henderson came off the bench to score 15 points and the Pirates got double-digit scoring from Tayshawun Bradford (13 points) and Kenton Lei. Bradford added 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals while Lei had 6 rebounds and 2 assists.
Dominic King also had a good game with 9 points, 7 rebounds, and a block.
Porterville will look to bounce back on Wednesday (Jan. 15) when the Pirates travel to West Hills College Lemoore for a 7 p.m. Central Valley Conference game.