File photo – Jett Cheong

The Corsairs continued to roll in men’s basketball with an 82-71 win over Foothill on the opening day of the Santa Rosa tournament on Thursday.

College of the Redwoods rallied from a five-point halftime deficit and opened up an 18-point lead midway through the second half on the way to their eighth straight win.

The victory lifts the Corsairs to 9-5.

“This was a character revealing performance by our guys,” head coach Ryan Bisio said. “A great response to start the second half with all the grit and guts you’d want to see. So proud of the fight we displayed tonight.”

Sophomore Jett Cheong enjoyed one of his best performances of the season in the win, scoring a team-high 23 points and playing some strong defense while seeing substantial minutes on the floor.

“Jett was an absolute stalwart on both sides of the ball all night,” Bisio said. “He nearly played the entire game and just kept getting better and better. He guided us home with his poise, skill and toughness.”

Trey Neff also had a good night and finished with 16 points, as did former Arcata Tiger Kai Purcell, who continues to play a key role for the team in his sophomore collegiate campaign.

Ty Neff added 10 points, as the CR men overcame a challenging first half.

“Foothill was very physical on the perimeter defensively,” Bisio said. “They put us on our heels in the first half with their pressure and tenacity.”

The red-hot Corsairs will continue tournament play against a good Yuba team on Friday at 6 p.m. 

Yuba is the No. 5 ranked team in California and is 8-2.

But it’s a challenge the Corsairs are looking forward to.

“Obviously Yuba is an elite team that’s having a marquee year and they’ll be extremely hard to beat,” Bisio said. “But we were in this exact same (game) against them last season and I thought we played a little too tight.

“I want us to play (Friday) night loose and with nothing to lose. Go have fun playing a great team.”