The long journey to the state title will continue for the Ohlone Renegades. This past Saturday, the Renegades opened up the regional playoffs in typical fashion as they rolled past Shasta College, 75-60. The Shasta Knights won their bid-game against West Valley College back on Feb. 24 to earn the match-up with Ohlone. Ohlone Head Coach John Peterson stated before the match-up that he wanted to see more of a “man defense” in the postseason. According to Peterson, the Renegades have not played a man-to-man defense in their last four games. “I thought we defended well,” said Peterson. “They present some problem with the player movement but I think overall we did a pretty good job. I mean 60 points is 60 points.” As the first half moved forward, the Renegades saw their lead expand and at the end of the first 20 minutes, they led 37-26. Shasta had only three leads in the half, all of which were simple one-point exchanges. Reggie Jones lit up the scoreboard in the first half with 11-point output. He finished the contest with 15 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. The 11-point lead at halftime kept growing in the second half. With 10:30 left on the clock, the Renegades opened up a 17-point deficit. Unfortunately for Shasta, things got worse when the Renegades grabbed a 70-51 lead with five minutes left to play. Guard Scott Clark had 10 of his 15 points in the latter half. He was 6-10 from the field but also went 3-6 from the three-point land and had a team-high eight assists. “It was a good effort,” said Clark. “My teammates were able to get me the ball in good positions and I was able to knock down the shots. It was good to finally have that happen in the playoffs right now.” Along with the efforts of Jones and Clark, Ronnie Sawyer was 5-6 from the free-throw line and finished with 12 points and six rebounds. Despite grabbing just three boards, Lavon Gray grabbed eight points for himself. After making short work of Shasta, Ohlone was right back to work in Epler Gym as they prepare for a “Sweet 16” showdown with the Yuba College 49ers on Saturday, March 6. The eighth-seeded 49ers come into the contest fresh off a 65-62 win against Sequoias on Feb. 25. Yuba finished first in the Bay Valley Conference where they went 25-4 overall. They also posted a conference record of 15-1. Tip-off Saturday is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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