COS men redeem previous road loss

By Reggie Stiteler
Published: Thursday, January 31, 2008 2:02 PM CST
Mt. Shasta News

Weed High School graduate Jeffrey Williams continued his hot shooting for COS Saturday night, burying four timely three-point buckets in the Eagles’ 80-72 victory over Shasta College. The freshman guard finished with 15 points.

With a room-awakening slam two minutes into the game, College of the Siskiyous' Demario Ballard set the tone against arch-rival Shasta College Saturday night in Weed, giving his Eagle squad not just a 4-0 lead, but the swagger to overcome a Knights' charge and win, 80-72.

Ballard led the Eagles with 18 points, and Siskiyous needed, and got, big performances from swingman Alden Gibbs, forward Roland Johnson and sharpshooter Jeffrey Williams to harness the feisty gang from Redding which now looks up at their GVC neighbors to the north in the standings.

The trio has played well this season, but they're even better now with the confidence and freedom Ballard gives them in the paint.

Gibbs hit a huge three with 40 seconds left to play, as the shot clock was nearly expired. His score ended a 7-2 Knights run that brought the surging visitors within three points of the lead.

Williams hit four three-pointers, three when his team was behind and two to give the Eagles a lead.

Johnson, frequently facing smaller players now instead of the bigger guys he faced before Ballard's return, is taking and converting easier shots while grabbing seemingly every rebound the center misses.

Williams and Johnson each tallied 15 points in the victory.

Gibbs finished with 16 points, and his clutch shooting was not the only thing that impressed the freshman's coach.

“Gibbs is stuffing the stat sheet for us,” coach Billy Offill said. “We ask a lot of him and he has stepped up to every challenge.”

In particular, Offill referred to Gibbs' assignment defending Shasta guard Trevor Ray who scored 14 in the first half, but whom Gibbs shut down in the second when Ray collected just three points, all on foul shots.

The teams battled to a 42-all tie at the half, then Siskiyous successfully used a full-court press to outrun the Knights 12-2 in the second period's opening minutes.

Later in that half Ballard again gave the crowd a show, slamming a fast break alley oop from point guard Drew Herrera to halt an 11-0 Shasta run which overcame the Siskiyous lead by four points midway in the period.

After the Eagles tied the game at 64, Williams again went to work, sandwiching a pair of threes around a timeout. The Weed High grad's shots gave the Eagles the lead for good, sparking a 9-1 Siskiyous run.

Ballard sent the crowd home cheering, with an “I told you so” dunk on the game's final play, giving the Eagles an 80-72 triumph over the Knights (5-18, 0-3 GVC).

“It's a big deal to beat Shasta,” coach Offill said. “That's the best crowd since I have been here Saturday night. We can use the support.”

After sweeping the top two preseason teams in their opening week of conference play, the Eagles (9-14, 3-1) desperately needed the Shasta win at home after tripping up at Quincy to Feather River College Wednesday of last week.

Feather River's Golden Eagles (7-10, 1-2) stormed out to an 11-0 lead and never looked back.

After the initial run, Siskiyous outscored Feather River by one point, but it was too little, too late as the Golden Eagles beat the Screamin' Eagles 99-89.

“To me it's about getting the stops,” Offill said. “We gave them 99 points, many on easy buckets.”

Feather River, like many teams are beginning to do against Siskiyous, installed a zone defense in an attempt to contain Ballard and company.

But the Eagles suffered another loss when they went to their three-point game.

Freshman guard Kellen Chewning, who has the best three-point shooting percentage in the Offill Offense, came down on an opponent's foot after a jumper and suffered a high ankle sprain.

Chewning, who, according to Offill, had a softball sized swelling above his foot, did not return and was on crutches Saturday night for the Shasta game.

Offill looks to have his three point threat ready this Saturday when Lassen College (12-10,

2-0) comes to town.

Ballard led Siskiyous with 23 points at Feather River while Gibbs scored 22.

“Other than that, we lacked enough production,” Offill said.

Saturday's game in Weed against Lassen tips off at 7:30 p.m.

If past performance is any indication, the teams likely will provide another dunk contest for the fans.