REDDING, Calif. – The Shasta College men's basketball team couldn't knock off rival Butte College Saturday night, falling 60-57 at home.

Shasta took its first lead with 3 minutes left on a two free throws from Elijah Ramirez to go up 52-51. But Butte answered with a 3-pointer, a steal converted into a layup to regain the lead.

Brendan Hoag scored five straight for the Knights to keep it a one possession game. Butte's Marco Tapia had a chance to close out the game with free throws but he missed both and Shasta's Mike Maasen was fouled at midcourt with 5.1 seconds left for two shots.

Maasen missed the first and his the Knights couldn't get his intentional miss on the second, hoping for an offensive rebound to get a game-tying shot.

Shasta trailed 36-32 at half and kept it within 10 the entire game. Butte was 20 for 33 from the free throw line in the game compared to Shasta's 7 of 15.

Hoag paced the Knights with 15 points while Tanner Bidwell added 10 points. Michael Plunkitt scored seven points and dished a team-high six assists, Alessandro Guzzon scored seven points and grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds off the bench.

Noah Zoppi led Butte with 18 points while Kehmarr McMillan scored 15 points and had 11 rebounds.

Shasta drops to 4-3 in Golden Valley Conference play and 6-16 overall. One more loss or one Butte win eliminates Shasta from a possible GVC championship. Shasta plays at Feather River Wednesday before returning home Saturday at 4 p.m. against College of the Siskiyous.

GVC Standings
Team GVC, Overall
Butte 7-1, 14-11
Feather River 5-3, 13-8
Lassen 4-3, 13-10
Shasta 4-3, 6-16
Siskiyous 3-5, 6-20
Redwoods 0-8, 0-24