‘It feels great to be a champion in this league’; CR men’s basketball clinches another GVC title

After one season away, College of the Redwoods mens basketball team in Golden Valley Conference once again, clinching this years conference with a convincing 94-78 win on Saturday over Feather River.The GVC title is the Corsairs fourth in five years since head coach Ryan Bisio has taken over the program, with CR rebounding from a second-place finish behind College of the Siskiyous a year ago.

With one conference game still to play, the Corsairs are 7-2 in the GVC and 20-7 overall on the season.It feels great to be a champion in this league, Bisio said postgame.

To win this one with so many new faces, Im so proud of these guys.It was yet another strong showing for the Corsairs offense, cracking the 90-point threshold for the fourth time this conference season, having done so three times in their last four games.

CR hit 17 threes on Saturday with six coming from sophomore guard Mason Mottashed with freshman Alfonso Medina hitting another five.Mottashed led the Corsairs with 22 points, Medina added 21 and freshman guard Isai Sow scored 19 points, four threes and added seven assists.

Freshman forward Josh Neal added ten points off the bench for CR, including a big second half slam dunk to help put the finishing touches on the win.College of the Redwoods freshman forward Josh Neal finishes off a slam dunk in the Corsairs win over Feather River.

Neal scored ten points off the bench for CR in the win.

(Dylan McNeill/Times-Standard)We got off to a blistering start to that game.

Isai Sow, I think he buried four threes right at the start of the game, Bisio said.

I looked up at the scoreboard for the first time and we were up 27-10.

It was a pretty surreal start in terms of offensive explosiveness.CR sits in second place in the entire state with 327 made threes this season, behind only Santiago Canyon, whos hit 331 threes while playing in one more game than the Corsairs.

The Corsairs controlled the first half, leading throughout and taking a 48-31 lead into the locker room at halftime.Feather River would narrowly outscore the Corsairs in the second half 47-46 but it was far from enough as CR got to celebrate the 16-point win and conference-clincher on their home floor in front of an energized Saturday afternoon crowd.Championship steadiness, championship composure, championship poise, Bisio said of his team.

And we are champions.Thanks to the GVC title, CR is assured a playoff spot in the CCCAA, something thats become a yearly occurrence for the Corsairs during Bisios tenure.

Feather River would get the game as close as within nine points but nothing was stopping CR from cutting down that net on Saturday.It comes from a group of kids who are really invested in their own development and also very committed to playing the type of communal basketball that we play, Bisio said on the teams lack of complacency this season.

These guys come to practice everyday and really look to improve and really look to come together as a team.

So when you hit adversity in these games, I think our guys have a lot of confidence and rely on their body of work and know that weve seen ourselves through some tough moments in the past.CR brought back only two players from last years team, Mottashed and guard Isidro Garcia, but even with the lack of continuity, Bisio wasnt surprised to see this years team atop the GVC.Since we met these guys in July and August, we knew that they were really serious about this game and about their relationships that they have with each other, Bisio said.

I knew we would have a shot to take a run at this league this time around.Not only did the Corsairs excel from three, shooting 42.5% from deep, they also accumulated 32 assists in the game while shooting 56.3% overall from the field.

The only thing holding Saturdays performance back from all-around greatness was their 5-9 free-throw performance, but when you score 94 points, the Corsairs can stomach the 55.6% free throw percentage.CR will close out the regular season at home Tuesday night, where the Corsairs will honor their sophomores before their game against Lassen before CR jumps into postseason action.

Bisio views it as a chance to honor their three sophomores: Mottashed, Garcia and forward Brandon Lucas.Were always just playing for our improvement too, Bisio said.

Tuesday night, as much as there are some things that can take our focus away, its also just another opportunity for us to grow as people together, expand our game and grow in our confidence.Tuesdays game will tip-off at 5:00 p.m.

with the Corsairs womens team, who were not in action on Saturday, playing at 7:00 p.m.Dylan McNeill can be reached at 707-441-0526..

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