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Last Updated: Sep 14, 2010 - 10:50:22 AM |
They didn't play against the most-disciplined or toughest team in the Golden Valley Conference, but the College of the Redwoods men's basketball team sent a message Wednesday to the rest of the league that they are ready to challenge for another crown.
Oh, and they may also have a conference MVP on their squad.
Redwoods' strong, fluid 6-foot-9 center Mat Lipski had a game-high 18 pints and the Corsairs controlled throughout as they cruised past Siskiyous 72-50 in the GVC opener on Wednesday.
"Coming in to league, I definitely wanted to establish myself," Lipski said. "But more than that I wanted to come out with a win."
It didn't take long for Siskiyous to get a heavy dose of Lipski.
Mid-way through the first half, he scored eight straight points, hitting jumpers and layups, that helped CR's lead grow to nine points. He had two blocks on the night, but struggled at times against the Eagles' 6-foot-4 center Dylan Griffin, who finished with 18 points.
Lipski, who played his high school ball in Ashland, Ore., hasn't defended many people his size this season and is adjusting to a new style of play he seeing in California.
"In Oregon you have more shooters and passers," he said. "Here there's more penetrating. It's a quicker pace."
"It's definitely a kind of balance. As the center, I'm the last line of defense so I have to watch my fouls. But it hasn't been too bad.” To Redwoods' credit, they played well even with Lipski out of the lineup."
CR got to the line effectively and grew the lead to 20 with 13:30 left in the game. Lipski entered shortly after and Redwoods went up 57-32 two minutes later, effectively killing any hope for Siskiyous.
"We've figured out our rotation and now we're trying to settle into it,”"CR head coach Rich Mendoza said. "We know we're gonna need our bench to win conference and now we're set on an eight-man rotation that we feel good about."
Part of that rotation was Eureka grad Travis Tollner, who scored 13 points.
Redwoods will play against Shasta at home on Saturday at 4 p.m.
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