Submitted photo – The Corsairs celebrate their tournament win on Saturday.

Zac Claus and the College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team are living up to their preseason billing.

Claus, a former Fortuna standout, joined the team this past offseason along with several other H-DNL all-stars, creating a buzz of excitement around the local basketball community and hope for a Corsairs program that was winless last winter.

On Saturday, the players showed us why we were right to be excited about this bunch, knocking off the host team 80-77 in the Mendocino tournament championship game and avenging last weekend’s loss to a very good Eagles team in the process.

It was the Corsairs’ third straight win at the three-day tournament, and Claus was instrumental in all three, scoring 22 points on Saturday and earning tournament MVP honors.

Drew Gillette added 15 points, while Thomas Nelson had 11 and Bradley Willis 10.

Nelson and Donald Willis were each also named all-tournament.

With the win, the Corsairs improved to 8-3.

They won’t play again until December 5, when they host Sierra in their home opener.

The CR women also won on Saturday, defeating Hartnell 113-43.

Ashely Quigley led the Corsairs in the rout, scoring 19 points, while Brianna Green had 15 points and Juliana Ortega-MIranda 14.

With the win, the CR women improved to 4-2