Siskiyou men excited for GVC play

By Reggie Stiteler
Published: Wednesday, January 16, 2008 1:23 PM CST
Mt Shasta News

Siskiyous freshman center William Rajnus lays it in against the Nor-Cal All Stars Saturday in Weed. Rajnus scored ten points in the Eagles 76-68 defeat.

The slate is wiped clean for the College of the Siskiyous mens hoops team as they gear up for their Golden Valley Conference opener tonight in Weed.

“We've had some tough losses in the preseason and dealt with adversity,” coach Billy Offill said. “We're confident with the clean slate. We'll push the freshmen mistakes aside and make like sophomores in league play.”

The young Eagles bring a 6-12 preseason mark into the GVC, but return just one player with experience from 2007 season, sophomore forward Tyson Berry, last year's sixth man.

Sophomore Roland Johnson transferred in this season and the remainder of the roster is comprised of freshmen.

Offill intentional scheduled a tough preseason to prep his kids for league.

“I think we can improve on last year's 3-7 GVC record,” Offill said. “We can create match-up problems. But we have a big challenge facing the best two teams in the league the first week.”

The first challenge tonight is Butte College with their 12-4 record and No.12 rank in the North state junior college ranks.

The Eagles hope to catch Butte a bit rusty, having not played a game the past month.

Saturday, the Eagles go to 11-8 Redwoods.

This past Saturday, Siskiyous played their final warm up against the Nor-Cal All Stars club team.

The All-Stars are comprised of former 4-year college and semi-pro men, who jumped all over Siskiyous with seven first half three-pointers Saturday, on their way to a 76-68 win.

Chris Gonzales formerly of Westmont College dropped 40 points on the Eagles who continue to search for their first home victory of the season.

Johnson paced Siskiyous with 19 points.

Alden Gibbs added 15 and William Rajnus 10 for the Eagles.

Johnson and Gibbs have been the Eagles top performers to this point in the season.

Johnson is averaging 13 points and 9 rebounds, just ahead of Gibbs' 12 ppg and 6.5 rpg.

Gibbs is second in the state with 3.5 steals per game, Offill said.

“We have a chance like every other team,” said Offill. “I expect our games will go down to the wire.”