photo by Mike Daly
REDDING, Calif. – The Knights are starting to pick up some momentum in Golden Valley Conference play.
Shasta College's men's basketball team followed its upset victory over No. 17 Feather River Saturday with a lopsided 86-63 home win over College of the Redwoods Wednesday night.
The Knights have won four of their last five with the only defeat coming by three points to No. 8 Butte in overtime.
"The best thing about this team right now is the culture," Shasta College coach Kele Fitzhugh said. "They've done such a good job buying in and holding each other accountable. They like each other and respect each other and that's what we like to do in the recruiting process. It's not about getting the best players but getting good players that believe in each other and I'm fortunate these guys have done that."
All year long Shasta has relied on its defense to set the tone in the game. The Knights rank second in the state in points allowed per game (54.3) and the game plan didn't change against the Corsairs. Blake Trent's mid-range jumper late in the first half gave Shasta a 25-23 advantage, a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
The Knights (13-9, 4-1 GVC) ended the first half on an 11-2 run as Zach Lowe and Trent each buried 3-pointers, and Jordan Spaschak stripped a Corsair and banked in a prayer from nearly three-quarters of the court at the buzzer for a 42-30 lead.
"The key for us is always our defense and it gets our offense going," Fitzhugh said. "The latter part of the first half we picked it up, started moving, talking, helping each other out and taking charges. It gave us energy."
Spaschak, who ended the first half with 18 points of his game-high 26 points, was aggressive driving to the hoop and splitting defenders for layups when the Corsairs (2-16, 0-4 GVC) decided to hang around the perimeter to guard the 3-point shots. It opened the game up for the Knights, who would use two more big runs to pull away.
"Teams understand we like to shoot the ball and he's done a great job adjusting on the fly," Fitzhugh said of Spaschak, who added six assists to his state-leading total. "When they switched they wanted to stay with the shooters so he understood had to go one-on-one a little bit to break them down."
Spaschak's putback kept Shasta's lead at double-digits before back-to-back 3s from Lowe sparked an 11-2 run to put the Knights up 21. Redwoods wouldn't get closer than 18 the rest of the way.
Lowe poured in 18 points on four 3s while sophomore Kellen Gerig posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Trent tallied 11 points, David O'Brien scored 10 points off the bench, and Spaschak rounded out his state line with eight rebounds and five steals.
Shasta plays at College of the Siskiyous Saturday in Weed at 2 p.m.
Golden Valley Conference standings
*through Wednesday
#8 Butte College 4-0, 17-3
Shasta College 4-1, 13-9
#17 Feather River 2-2, 13-8
Lassen College 2-2, 6-11
College of the Siskiyous 1-4, 3-17
College of the Redwoods 0-4, 2-16