College of the Redwoods Athletics

Former South Fork Cub Tommy Rotbergs enjoyed his best game of the year on Wednesday night, as the College of the Redwoods men’s basketball team tipped off conference play with an 82-70 win at Shasta.

The freshman guard helped lead the visitors back from a four-point halftime deficit with a big second half, finishing with 10 points and making his presence felt on the defensive end as well.

With the win, the CR men improved to 1-0 in the Golden Valley Conference and 12-7 overall.

“Tommy Rotbergs had his best game of the year on both sides of the ball and was our leader in effort and hustle plays,” CR head coach Justin Claus said. “I’m very proud of Tommy and his confidence in his ability to impact the game defensively and offensively.”

The Redwoods players started slow and had difficulty matching the Knights’ effort early in the night.

But they would grow into the game and began to take control against a team that came into the game 1-17.

“Shasta came out with more energy and confidence and played better than us in the first half in almost every way,” Claus said. “They were aggressive with their on-ball defense, made passing lanes tough, and we struggled to move the ball cleanly.”

The coaches and players had a heart-to-heart at halftime, and the difference after the break as evident.

“At halftime there wasn’t a lot of X’s and O’s, it was more about acknowledging that we needed to be tougher and play with more physical aggression,” the CR coach added. “We responded to that in the second half. Our uptick in hustle and urgency on the defensive end really fueled us while we were still finding traction offensively.”

It was a lesson learned by the Redwoods players, who will need to bring their “A” game every night if they want to successfully defend the conference championship they won last year, even against a team that has struggled as much as Shasta this winter.

“This was a big opportunity for us to learn that leaving even a small amount of room for another team to outwork you is enough to make any game difficult,” Claus said. “Shasta played great defense and made us earn everything.”

In addition to Rotbergs, several other CR players helped key the second-half surge, including Nate Sweet.

The sophomore guard from El Dorado led the team in scoring with 22 points and nailed six 3-pointers.

But that wasn’t all he contributed.

“Nate Sweet gave us a huge lift on both ends of the floor,” Claus said. “(He) also took on the challenge of guarding one of Shasta’s best players. His shot-making was big for us, but his physical defense and competitiveness were just as impactful.”

Cody Whitmer also impressed in the win and finished with 18 points, while Marcos Rosales added 12 points.

The CR women also won at Shasta on Tuesday night by a score of 57-51.

Next up, Redwoods will host Butte in a conference doubleheader on Saturday afternoon, with the women taking the court at 1 and the men following at 3.