The College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team is living up to its ranking.

A fast start to the new season has seen the Corsairs rise to No. 17 in the state, and they improved to 5-1 on Thursday after posting a tournament-opening win at Mendocino College in their first game in almost two weeks.

The CR men tipped off against American River and won 77-67 to advance to the tourney semifinals on Friday.

Several different players have impressed early in the season for the Corsairs on what appears to be a deep roster.

On Thursday it was Brandon Lucas’ turn and he finished with a team-high 19 points, including five of his team’s 12 3-pointers.

“Brandon Lucas really showed how much of a nightmare matchup he can be today,” CR head coach Ryan Bisio said. “We went small against their behemoth big man, and we ended up ahead in the exchange due to Brandon’s ability as a marksman from deep.”

The victory came against a good American River team that dropped to 3-3.

“I have tremendous respect for the fight our guys showed in the second half today,” Bisio added. “American River looks like a playoff team to me, and to beat them when we weren’t playing our best ball is very encouraging.”

Mason Mottashed also impressed in the win and added 11 points.

The Corsairs had to battle the weather to even make to down to Ukiah.

“As most folks in Northern California can imagine, traveling through this awful storm to the game was grueling and stressful,” Bisio said. “Today’s performance was about grittiness. It was never going to look pretty for either team.”

The Corsairs will now get a rematch against the one team that has beaten them this year, Los Medanos, in Friday’s tournament semifinal.

And it’s a challenge the players are relishing.

“Our guys have been saying for weeks they wanted a rematch against Los Medanos, and now they got it,” the CR coach added.

Los Medanos is 4-3.

Friday’s game is scheduled for 5 p.m.