Defense Was Key to Eagles’ First Men’s Basketball Championship in 20 Years

A video posted on the College of the Siskiyous Athletics Facebook page says it all: Head coach Kyle Heath getting a water bath from his players as he walks into the locker room with assistant coach Adrian Russell after the Eagles' conference championship-clinching victory at Lassen last Wednesday night. The players are bouncing around and yelling as they swarm around the coach, pouring water on his head out of plastic cups.

Heath, who had been mostly stoic on court during and after the Eagles' crucial home victories over Redwoods and Shasta the week before, is seen sharing his players' delight on the video after winning a title that had eluded COS for 20 years.

The Eagle players celebrated the way they've played during an 8-1 conference run: with a lot of energy.

"They play hard, care about each other, and bought into our way," Heath said two days later while admitting that the reality of winning his first conference title in his 15th season as head coach hadn't quite sunk in yet.

The Eagles went to Lassen after a huge victory on their home court six days earlier over three-time defending champion Redwoods, the only team they've lost to in the GVC. Two days later, on Sophomore Day, in front of the large crowd on hand to celebrate naming the gym in honor of Hall of Fame coach Tom Powers, they grinded out a victory over winless Shasta to clinch at least a tie for first place.

You wouldn't have known how much those wins meant by looking at Heath's face, and while the players showed more enthusiasm, they didn't go crazy.

Heath said they went to Lassen with a must-win mindset, even though they still would have had one more chance to clinch the title outright in this Wednesday's game at Feather River. They celebrated after beating Lassen 73-64 and enjoyed a long ride home from a place where Eagle teams have had a hard time winning over the years. They also took the weekend off before preparing for the regular season finale and finding out their playoff seeding this coming Sunday.

STRONG DEFENSE, ATYPICAL OFFENSE

If he were just looking at all his team pictures, Heath said he might not pick this year's squad as his first to win conference.

Good defense was the biggest reason these Eagles finished on top, Heath said. They have allowed an average of 68.9 points per game in conference, nearly 5 points per game better than Redwoods, which is second best at 73.8. Other than their 93-73 loss at Redwoods, the Eagles haven't allowed more than 76 points in a GVC game, and they have limited teams to fewer than 66 points in 6 of their 8 wins.

On offense, the Eagles have bucked the current trend of living and dying by shooting three-pointers. They mostly score in other ways, with pull-up jumpers, drives to the basket, second chances, and getting to the free throw line.

Other than Sophomore Day, Heath has had the same starting lineup and the same two main rotation players throughout the season. They're mostly returning sophomores and mostly guards. The starters are sophomore guards Dylan Neufeld and Landon Ellis, sophomore forwards Cole Bernius and Nick Dore, and freshman guard Tanner Jolley. The rotation players, sophomore Cameron Collord of Mount Shasta and freshman Matthew McEwen of Yreka, are both guards. Only 6-foot-5 Bernius, 6-3 Dore, and 6-3 Jolley are taller than 6-2.

They all play hard on both ends of the court and all get rebounds.

"We take charges, dive on loose balls. We want it more," Heath said.

It took an 8-1 conference record for the Eagles to even their overall mark at 13-13 after a challenging preseason that included many of the top teams in the North. "We found our identity defensively right before Christmas when we lost to three good teams," Heath said.

In their many tight league games, they shared the ball more, turned it over less, shot better, and didn't get rattled. They trailed Butte by 13 points both times they played and came back to win both.

The sophomores never lost to Shasta and haven't lost to Feather River yet. They've won 30 games in two years, the best two-year run for any sophomores since Heath became coach. They're the first Eagle sophomores in 20 years to reach the men's basketball postseason back-to-back and, in the classroom, they have a 3.3 team GPA.

Neufeld, who was first team all-conference as a freshman, is first in conference games this season with 22.3 points per game, nearly 4 points per game better than the second-best scorer, Trey Neff of Redwoods, who is averaging 18.6. Neufeld is also 4th in assists with 4.3.

Ellis is 6th in conference scoring with 15 ppg, 4th in steals at 1.7, and 7th in assists with 3.6.

Bernius, who was on the GVC all-defense list as a freshman, is 10th in scoring with 12.8 ppg and 4th in rebounding at 8.6. He's 5th in offensive rebounds with 2.8 per game and 5th in blocks at 1.2.

Neufeld is averaging 5.1 rebounds per game in league, Dore 5.0, Jolley 4.6, and Ellis 4.2.

As a team, the Eagles made more free throws (154) than any other GVC team and have the second-best free throw shooting percentage in conference (74), trailing Lassen's 79.

"It all came together," Heath said. "Each guy has a role. Someone will be the MVP. Dylan leads the league in scoring and consistently made big shots. An argument could be made for Landon, who was just as valuable. Cole had so many big blocks and defends well. Tanner's defense was huge, guarding the best scorers and getting rebounds. Nick is our emotional leader. Cameron got better as the season went on; he rebounded and didn't turn it over. Matt plays good defense and makes plays; he's a Tasmanian devil out there."

They'll soon have a conference championship banner hanging on the wall in the newly named Tom Powers Court, just the third men's basketball championship banner since 1970, following the 1987 team that was coached by Powers and the 2004 team.

"Makes you realize how hard it is," said Heath.

BIG WINS DOWN THE STRETCH

In the second half of the conference season, the Eagles won at Butte in overtime, 77-76, beat Redwoods at home, 68-62, beat Shasta at home, 71-63, and won at Lassen, 73-64.

In the game that clinched sole possession of first place, the Eagles started fast at Lassen and led 35-21 at the half. "You can't ask for more than that on the road," Heath said. "We got up by 17 in the second half, but then they cut it to 7. We got it back up to 12, then they tied it. I didn't take a timeout, and Dylan converted an and-one. The guys responded and won by 9. Holding them under 70 points was big, especially on the road."

Doing what they've done so well this season, the Eagles limited Lassen's leading scorer in conference, Trey Hagarty, to 5 points, well below his 18.5 points per game average. "It was a team effort, but Tanner mostly took him out," Heath said.

Neufeld scored 26 points while making 11 of his 13 free throws. He took three charges and had 4 assists and 3 rebounds. Ellis had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Jolley had 11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Bernius had 10 points, 10 rebounds, and a huge block on a layup late in the game when the Eagles led by one point. Dore had 7 points and 7 rebounds. Collard had 5 points and 3 rebounds.

In their OT win at Butte on February 3, the Eagles made only 2 threes on 18 attempts, while Butte was 13 for 35. Butte led 36-23 at the half. The Eagles made adjustments and "got a bunch of stops" in the second half, Heath said. Neufeld made a couple key baskets and free throws late. The Eagles held a one-point lead when Butte put up an air ball with 25 seconds to play. Butte then missed a couple free throws and fouled Collard, who sank both his foul shots to boost the lead to 3.

Neufeld finished with 24 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. He was 8 for 9 from the free throw line while the Eagles as a team were 27 for 34 (79.4 percent) and Butte was 13 for 24 (54.2 percent).

Dore had 13 points and 5 rebounds; Ellis had 12 points and 8 rebounds; Jolley 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks; Collord 9 points and 7 rebounds; Bernius 7 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals.

That win set up the key game against Redwoods at home five days later. While the Eagles have attempted only 390 threes in 26 games overall, Redwoods has made nearly that many, a state leading 325, while attempting a state-leading 906. The other GVC teams also shoot way more from beyond the arc. Shasta has attempted nearly 700 threes, Butte 660, Feather River 500, and Lassen 480.

"Most teams shoot a million threes these days," Heath said. "We don't. We get to the rim, shoot jumpers, and focus on defense."

Against Redwoods, the Eagles again only made just 2 threes, but they eventually took the three-point shot away from Corsairs, who finished the game well below their three-point averages, making just 7 of 20.

"They usually shoot more threes than twos," Heath said. "We were willing to give them the twos and take away some of those threes."

The Eagle defense limited the damage done by Corsairs starters Mason Railsback (No. 4) and Kai Purcell (No. 11) to 13 points. Those two combined to score 39 points in the game at Redwoods.

It was an off-shooting day for Ellis, but he got fouled on a drive and made two free throws to give the Eagles a 62-56 lead with 1:23 to play. It was 62-60 before Neufeld hit a baseline jumper with only 26 seconds remaining. Then he got fouled and made two free throws to make it 66-62 with 21 seconds left.

The Eagles led 9-0 early and never trailed, although Redwoods did tie it a couple times in the second half and had chances to take the lead. Neufeld made 14 of 16 free throws and finished with 28 points and 8 rebounds. Bernius, who played a key role on defense, had 18 points, 15 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal. Ellis scored 6 points, Jolley had 2 points, 2 steals, and 3 of his four rebounds were on offense. Dore had 5 points, 6 rebounds and a block. Collord had 5 points and 4 rebounds, and McEwen 4 points and 6 rebounds, 2 of them on offense.

That win gave the Eagles a two-game lead with three to play, but Heath stressed to his team the importance of not letting down in their next game against rival Shasta, which is having a horrendous 1-26 season.

The Eagles did struggle to put Shasta away after the pre-game recognition of the sophomores and their family members: Cole Bernius, Cameron Collord, Nick Dore, Landon Ellis, Dylan Neufeld, Starz Saavedra, and Daniel Yancey.

Their lead was 40-31 during the half time ceremony celebrating the career of legendary coach Tom Powers and the gym's new name: Tom Powers Court.

In the end, the Eagles won it 71-63 with Neufeld scoring 23 points with 5 assists and 4 rebounds, Bernius scoring 12 points with 8 rebounds and 3 blocks, and Collord scoring 11 points with 6 rebounds and a steal. Ellis had 9 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, Dore 8 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, Jolley 5 points and 6 rebounds, Yancey 2 points, and McEwen 1 point and 5 rebounds. Saavedra got a rebound, as did freshman Bryce Rollins. Freshmen Alex Padilla, Cian Campbell, and Ajay Hodge played.

The win improved the Eagles' record to 5-0 at home in conference and 6-0 at home overall this season.

"It's not about me," Heath said after expressing his satisfaction with ending Redwoods' run of three straight GVC championships. He said that meant a lot, in part, because he's known the Corsairs' coach for many years. "He's from Eureka, I'm from Ukiah. We went to the Logger Classic in Eureka. He was a sophomore when I was a senior. We're friends off the court, but it was nice to beat him."

Heath said it's also special to him that his teams have had two playoff seasons in a row and a league championship since athletic director Charlie Roche gave him a full-time position on the staff.

Looking ahead, he said, "We want to stay hungry and humble. We should have a good chance in the playoffs. We played so many of the top teams in the preseason. And the sophomores went on the road for the playoffs last year, so they know what that's like."

By Steve Gerace