KNIGHTS GO COLD LATE IN 57-47 LOSS TO FEATHER RIVER
Shasta College falls to third in GVC standings
REDDING, Calif. – The Shasta College men's basketball team fell out of a tie for first place in the Golden Valley Conference standings after a 57-47 loss to Feather River College Saturday night.
Tanner Guinn scored a team-high 17 points in the loss and Brendan Hoag chipped in with 10 points.
The Knights trailed by four with about 5 minutes to play but went on a 3:27 scoring drought, allowing the Golden Eagles to pull away on a 7-0 run to steal a GVC road victory.
"For having a home game, we didn't play with very much passion," Shasta College coach Kele Fitzhugh said. "Like a freshmen group, this is the first time they've been in this situation. We played a little scared."
Shasta had been building confidence with wins in three of its past four games following a brutal preseason. The Knights were tied atop the GVC but couldn't hang on to the No. 1 spot.
The Knights' only lead was at 2-0 but kept pace for much of the game, never letting the deficit get to double-digits until the very end.
Shasta trailed 25-18 at halftime but erased the deficit early in the second half with a 9-0 run, bookended by Guinn's 3-pointer and fastbreak layup, to tie it at 27.
Feather River took the lead on a pair of free throws and a tip-in putback and never surrendered the lead again. Shasta got within one possession four other occasions, the last on a an and-1 play from Eliljah Ramirez, to make it 38-36 with 9:06 remaining.
"As bad as we played, we were still in the game," Fitzhugh said.
Ramirez would make two more shots to keep Shasta within four points at 44-40 and 46-42. But Feather River went inside to Jordan Garner for back-to-back buckets to highlight a 7-0 run that saw the Golden Eagles' lead grow from four to 11.
Guinn hit a 3-pointer with 1:00 to play to make it an eight-point game but the Golden Eagles broke the Knights' full-court press to seal it.
Shasta shot 3 of 23 from 3-point range and was 33 percent shooting from the floor on the night.
Michael Plunkitt paced the Knights with eight assists and Ramirez scored nine points off the bench.
Shasta hosts College of the Redwoods on Saturday at 4 p.m.
GVC Standings
Team GVC, Overall
Feather River 4-1, 12-6
Butte 4-1, 11-11
Shasta 3-2, 5-15
Lassen 2-3, 11-10
Siskiyous 2-3, 5-18
Redwoods 0-5, 0-21