File photo

The Corsairs’ pursuit of a fourth Golden Valley Conference men’s basketball championship in five years got off to a good start on Wednesday night.

The College of the Redwoods men welcomed Butte to Eureka for their conference opener and took care of business with an 87-74 victory

Former Fortuna Husky Alfonso Medina scored a team-high 26 points in the win, as the Corsairs adjusted well to Butte’s size and physicality as the game went on.

“Alfonso Medina was the headliner tonight,” CR head coach Ryan Bisio said. “His style and grace and incredible athleticism were on full display tonight.

“Every time you looked out there it seemed like he was making great plays above the rim open both sides of the ball.”

Ty Dahlin added 18 points in the win, while Mason Mottashed finished with 15 points and Brandon Lucas chipped in 11 points.

Redwoods trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, but the coaches and players made the necessary adjustments.

“We basically had to scrap the entire game plan on both sides of the ball within the first 10 minutes of the game,” Bisio said. “So much praise for our guys’ resiliency and adaptability. Butte forced us into doing things we barely even practice.

“(Their) size and physicality really imposed itself on us early.”

CR hit eight 3-pointers on the night.

With the win, the Corsairs improved to 1-0 in the GVC and 14-5 overall, while Butte dropped to 0-1 and 10-8.

Next up, the Corsairs travel to play Shasta in another conference game on Saturday, with tip off set for 1 p.m.