By Ray Hamill — Brandon Lucas keyed a big offensive performance by the Corsairs in men’s basketball on Wednesday night, as they remain well in the chase for a fourth Golden Valley Conference championship in five years.

The College of the Redwoods men hosted Shasta and rallied from a double-digit deficit with one of their best offensive games of the season on the way to a 96-88 win.

And Lucas played a big part in that, turning in what head coach Ryan Bisio described as a “legendary shooting performance.”

Lucas was on fire from downtown and finished the night with 34 points, including 10 3-pointers, and he did it in front of a legendary former CR 3-point shooter.

“Brandon had a legendary shooting performance,” Bisio said. “It was quite fitting that (former Corsair standout) Issac Gildea was in the house to see it, since nobody has done anything like that since he did it over 20 years ago.”

Lucas’ big performance helped the Jacks explode for 59 second-half points, overcoming what had been an 11-point deficit at one stage.

The 96 points tied the team’s second-highest tally of the season.

“The game took on such an offensive tenor and we knew we had to outscore Shasta to survive,” Bisio said. “Luckily, Brandon fueled the firepower we needed to win the game. This game was a defensive coordinators’ nightmare.”

The win avenged an earlier GVC loss to the Knights and lifts the Corsairs to 4-2 in conference play, leaving them all alone in second and trailing only conference-leading Butte (4-1), which did not play on Wednesday.

“Shasta played exceptional and deserves so much credit for their competitive spirit,” Bisio said. “They took us all the way to the brink. Tremendous respect for the way they approached the game. It’s the best game I’ve seen them play all year, other than our last matchup a few weeks ago.”

Check out some video highlights of Brandon Lucas and the Corsairs during Wednesday’s game above …

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

Marcos Rosales added 17 points for the CR men, who are now 17-7 overall, while Mason Mottashed added 15 points and Ty Dahlin finished with 14 points.

Redwoods hit 21 3-pointers on the night.

“Ultimately it was our recommitment to our ball movement which allowed us to find consistent offensive traction in the second half,” the coach added. “We were reminded how the ball accumulates energy when it’s shared and all of our catches were much more decisive. Ironically it was Brandon who led us in getting that ball popping too.”

The Corsairs have four more conference games remaining, including a pivotal matchup at Butte next Thursday.

The CR women also were in action on Wednesday night and fell 64-59 to Shasta.

The Corsairs dropped to 1-4 in the GVC.

No stats from that game were immediately available.