College of the Redwoods Athletics

The College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team split a pair of games at the Columbia College tournament over the weekend, opening with a tough 102-83 loss to a physical host team before bouncing back with a 78-55 win over West Hills Coalinga.

With the split, Redwoods is now 6-4 on the season, as the local community college team gets set to host its annual Coach Tregs Classic this weekend.

Marcos Rosales continued to set the pace for CR offensively in the opener and finished with a team-high 26 points, while Cody Whitmer also continued to impress and added 13 points.

Kaden Erlenbush chipped in 11 points.

“We knew going in it was going to be tough physical battle,” CR head coach Justin Claus said. “Columbia plays one of the most bruising styles in California, anchored by the best individual rebounder in the state and a roster full off guys who make tremendous plays on the glass.

“It takes full undivided focus just to secure defensive rebounds against them. Our group was mentally up for that challenge, but we still have work to do learning how to succeed physically in these types of games.”

The Redwoods players, however, responded to the loss with a nice victory over a West Hills team that made them uncomfortable with their pressure defense.

Whitmer continued his impressive weekend with a team-high 17 points in the win, while former Fortuna Husky Alfonso Medina added 14 points and Nate Sweet chipped in 12 points.

“Even with the win, Coalinga made us uncomfortable early with their aggressive pressure,” Claus added. “They face guarded Marcos and pressured everyone, regardless of who had the ball.

“We allowed them to disrupt our routes and it frustrated us offensively.”

The players responded to the challenge in the second half and would secure an important win to keep them above .500 on the year.

“At halftime, we made a direct, urgent plea for our guys to step it up physically and take pride in their resistance,” Claus said. “They responded well and took a small step forward in the second half.”

CR will now turn its attention to this week’s tournament which tips off on Friday night.

Redwoods plays Southwestern Oregon in the opener at 7 p.m. and will also play Mendocino on Saturday at noon.

Feather River will also feature in tournament play.

After five straight weekends on the road, these will be the first home games of the season for the team.

“We’re eager to finally play in front of our home crowd,” Claus said. “Across the four games there should be some high-quality and entertaining basketball.”