Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Head coach Ryan Bisio has guided the Corsairs to three Sweet 16s in his four seasons in charge.

By Ray Hamill — An impressive playoff run for the College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team is even more so when you break down some of the statistics.

On Saturday night, the Corsairs traveled to Chabot College and knocked off the No. 6 seeds in the NorCal bracket by a score of 86-78.

It was CR’s second road win over a higher seed in four days and sets up a California Sweet 16 showdown at No. 3 seed College of the Sequoias on Saturday night, with the winner advancing to this year’s Elite Eight state championship tournament.

The Corsairs have not only been the Cinderella story of this year’s playoffs, but the best Cinderella story in California JC basketball in decades.

After losing out in their bid for an historic fourth consecutive Golden Valley Conference championship during the regular season, head coach Ryan Bisio and his players weren’t even sure they would make the playoffs.

But they snuck in, receiving the No. 22 seed in the 24-team NorCal bracket.

And that makes them the lowest seed to reach the California Sweet 16 since Cabrillo did it all the way back in 2003.

And that’s not all.

This is the third time in four seasons that Bisio has guided the Corsairs to the California Sweet 16 and the first time in that run that they’ve won back-to-back road games to get there.

CR is also just the second team in the GVC to reach back-to-back Sweet 16s in the modern era.

And guess what, there’s even more.

Under Bisio’s guidance, CR has become one of the most consistent playoff teams in California.

Since 2020, only three community colleges in the state — San Francisco, Sequoias and San Diego City — have qualified for more Sweet 16s than CR.

The Corsairs will try to keep their dramatic run going this coming weekend, and with eight wins in their last nine games, including five straight, they will carry plenty of momentum into this coming weekend’s big game.

Graphic by College of the Redwoods Athletics

With the exception off an early 0-2 deficit win their playoff opener at Merced last Wednesday — which they won 85-81 — the Corsairs have not trailed in either playoff game.

The win at Chabot was more comfortable than the final score would indicate.

The Corsairs led 46-35 at halftime and never really looked in danger of losing.

Trey Neff led the way offensively and scored a game-high 32 points in the win, to go with eight rebounds.

Jett Cheong, who is enjoying an outstanding postseason, added 17 points and a team-high seven assists, while the in-form Mason Railsback had a big all-around game, finishing with 13 points and four assists, as well as posting team highs in rebounds (nine) and blocks (four).

Kai Purcell also had a big game with 11 points and seven rebounds, while Ty Neff chipped in seven points and added a team-best three steals.

Mason Mottashed also had six points and Lucq Anderson had four rebounds and three assists.

Mason Mottashed