Santa Rosa Junior College’s men’s basketball won back-to-back games defeating Diablo Valley College on Feb. 11 and Folsom Lake on Feb. 12.
The Bear Cubs beat the Diablo Valley Vikings 91-85, with guard Shannon Ferguson scoring 23 points. Center Edward Turner had the most rebounds with 11, and guard Garrett Siebels had a team high six assists. All three players are sophomores.
The Bear Cubs previously lost 90-77 to Diablo Valley on Jan. 29; the loss snapped an 11-game win streak.
“They were the ones who ended our win streak so it was a little personal,” Siebels said.
A first half that began back and forth, ended in a 11-1 run by the Bear Cubs in the final five minutes. The score was 42-32 at half.
Coach Craig McMillan believed that his squad was prepared for the Vikings.
“We had some good practices, and I thought we were moving in the right direction,” McMillan said. “We played pretty good basketball in stretches, but then we had some breakdowns throughout the course of the second half, and we were lucky to hold on.”
The game got the Bear Cubs back on the winning track.
“We lost four out of five, and we haven’t been playing very well, and this is the team that beat us pretty easily to start our little slump,” McMillan said.
The Bear Cubs did not have long to celebrate, as they had to face Folsom Lake the next day.
Santa Rosa beat Folsom Lake College 74-62 on Feb. 12. Sophomore guard Tyler McLean and Turner were lead scorers with 16 points. Turner was also the lead rebounder with eight rebounds. McLean was also the team’s leader in assists with five.
Sophomore forward Nathan Capurro was also a key player in this game, tasked with guarding the Big 8 Conference’s top scorer, Folsom Lake’s Pierce Rexford, who only scored 12 points this game.
“[Capurro] didn’t give him much room and he had to work for everything he got and that was a big key for us to win the game,” coach McMillan said.
The Bear Cubs and Falcons met for their second meeting this year. This game was originally scheduled for Jan. 8, but because of COVID-19, it was rescheduled, according to coach McMillan.
It was the 11th game in 24 days for the Bear Cubs, a tough stretch for the team.
The score was 34-32 at half time, but the Bear Cubs came into the second half with more energy.
“We had some lapses defensively, we were giving up some buckets, but I thought we did a really good job of getting some stops and our energy picked up,” McMillan said. “When they were unable to score, it demoralized them a little bit, their intensity went down, [and] we took over the energy of the game because our defense tightened up and they were unable to get stops.”
The Bear Cubs finished the regular season with four wins in a row, defeating Modesto Junior College 98-47 on Feb. 15 and winning their final home game, originally scheduled for Feb. 17, after it was forfeited by Sacramento City College.
The Bear Cubs now await their seeding for playoffs, as well as a Big 8 Conference title, as they currently sit in second place with a 12-4 conference record. San Joaquin Delta College sits in first with a 10-3 record and three games left.
(Christian Vieyra)
