File photo – Mason Railsback

Former Arcata Tiger Mason Railsback led the way on Saturday, as the College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team won at Shasta 95-74.

Railsback scored a team-high 24 points in the win, which lifted the Corsairs to 3-2 in the Golden Valley Conference halfway through the conference schedule.

“Mason led by example and was relentless in the paint,” CR head coach Ryan Bisio said. “He’s such a beautiful player. He has all the skill and elegance you could dream of for this level.

“He added a little distortion to his tone tonight and looked like an all-state caliber player.”

The points total was the highest of the season for a CR offense that also scored 93 points in a victory over Siskiyous earlier in the week.

Kai Purcell added 20 points in the win, as the Corsairs improved to 13-10 overall, while Trey Neff had a double-double, scoring 16 points and pulling down a career-high 16 rebounds.

Lucq Anderson also finished in double digits in scoring and had 12 points.

“We did a good job putting heat on the rim all night, which was affirmed by our uptick in free-throw attempts,” Bisio said. “I’m proud of the way we didn’t settle and kept trying to get downhill.

“From a defensive standpoint, we continue to throw the kitchen sink at teams every night and just try to ride what’s working at the moment.

“We never know what it will be, but we rebounded the ball as well as we have all year (on Saturday).”

The win keeps the Corsairs in contention for a fourth straight conference title with five games remaining.

CR is now third in the standings, but just one game out of first, with Siskiyous (4-1) leading the way and Feather River (3-1) in second.

Redwoods will host Feather River in a pivotal showdown on Saturday at 3 p.m.

File photo – Kai Purcell