GVC Champion Eagle Men Open Playoffs on the Road

Fresh off their school's first men's basketball conference championship in 20 years, the Eagles are going on the road to open the playoffs Wednesday night at Skyline, a team that finished fourth in the Coast-North Conference.

There are no guaranteed rewards for finishing first when it comes to the California Community College Athletic Association state tournament.

The Eagles (14-13 overall) are seeded No. 21 out of 24 teams in the 2024 3C2A Men's Basketball NorCal Regionals. Skyline (18-10) is No. 12. Tipoff for Wednesday night's game is scheduled for 7 p.m., and fans can watch it via live stream at this link: Skyline College Men's Basketball - YouTube

The journey to San Bruno is familiar to the Eagles, who have been playing preseason games there for the past decade, said head coach Kyle Heath. "We know where to stay, where the gym is, where to park."

Siskiyous lost to Skyline in their gym this past December, 69-61, but Heath estimates the two teams are fifty-fifty in games they've played against each other in recent years. The 69 points they allowed in the most recent contest was similar to the Eagles' average points allowed during their 9-1 run to the Golden Valley Conference title. But the offense had not yet reached its peak.

"It's not a bad matchup for us," Heath said of facing Skyline. "It's a winnable game. I think our guys are prepared. The sophomores, especially, would like to win and add to a season that's been special already.

Those sophomores, Dylan Neufeld, Landon Ellis, Cole Bernius, Nick Dore, Starz Saavedra, and Daniel Yancey, were members of the Eagle team that lost a first round playoff game last year at Los Medanos. Like this year, they played a team that beat them in the preseason.

The Eagles enter the postseason with a six-game winning streak and a demonstrated ability to succeed in must-win games. Skyline lost its final three conference games.

Heath said his players match up well with Skyline size-wise and, like many other teams they've faced this season, Skyline shoots a lot more three-pointers. When they squared off in December, the Eagles started fast but trailed at half time and couldn't make up any ground in the second half. They finished the game with 18 turnovers and just 9 assists, numbers that Heath said they'd like to flip this time around.

"We had 15 assists in our last two games, so we want to do what we've been doing," he said.

With a first-round win, the Eagles would advance to play Saturday at No. 5 Yuba (26-2), a team coached for many years by Mount Shasta High School graduate Doug Cornelius. Yuba went 16-0 to win the Bay Valley Conference championship and, like all the conference champions other than Siskiyous, will open the playoffs at home.

Redwoods (17-11), which finished second to the Eagles in the GVC, is seeded No. 22 in the regionals and opens Wednesday night at No. 11 Merced (21-7). West Valley (28-0) is the No. 1 seed, San Francisco (23-5) No. 2, Sequoias (23-5) No. 3, and San Jose (21-7) No. 4.

By Steve Gerace