For the Bakersfield College men’s basketball team, its hopes of returning to the Elite Eight came to a quick end.
The Renegades who were seeded ninth in the South were defeated by No. 8 seeded Chaffey College 82-78 Feb. 27 in the first round of the playoffs.
The Renegades started the game against Chaffey down by a score of 20-1.
“It was a tough game. We didn’t have a great start. They (Chaffey) had a tremendous start. I give it to them,” BC head coach Rich Hughes said.
“We fought our way back. Our guys didn’t quit. We had opportunities down the stretch. We had some mistakes which cost us under a minute to go. It was a combination of mistakes throughout the game that hurt our chances of winning.”
Despite the loss, Hughes feels like the season overall was successful.
“We accomplished a lot. We finished second in conference, which is not first, but it’s a pretty good standing for us. We made the playoffs again for the fourth straight year,” said Hughes.
“Were our ultimate goals reached? No. But we did have a successful season because of some good positive things that we did.”
Hughes said that he is disappointed that the team wasn’t able to get back to the state Elite Eight.
“It’s disappointing that we couldn’t get back to where we were. We just didn’t have enough to get over the hump at times this year against good quality teams. We had enough to beat them but we had too many mistakes,” Hughes said.
“Out of our ten losses, probably seven of those were lost in the last two to three minutes of the game. You’re not going to win the state championship if you are making mistakes down the stretch.”
Hughes feels that there are some things that his team can build on for next season.
“We’re excited about the guys coming back. Hopefully we will build upon twenty-three wins and hopefully get a better shot of getting back to the Elite Eight,” said Hughes.
Darrin Dorsey had 14 points while Jamar Harrison added 10 points but the Renegades still fell to Western State Conference rival Citrus College 66-65 Feb. 21.
With the Renegades leading 65-64 with 14.7 seconds left in the game, an inbounds pass by the Renegades was stolen by Kelly Johnson of Citrus, who then hit a lay-up, which proved to be the winning points.
“They outplayed us. They outplayed us for forty minutes. We had our opportunities and we didn’t get it done down the stretch,” Hughes said.
“We had the game won. We missed some shots. We had a couple of opportunities to dive on the floor and secure the ball, and we didn’t do it.”
Also against the Owls, Luis Gomez added 13 points while Alex Olcott poured in 8 points.
For Citrus, Steven Bennett had 12 points and one rebound while Terance Reaves added 11 points and four rebounds.
Citrus coach Rick Croy gave credit to the Renegades and said that his team expects a tough game every time with them.
“We know when we are in the bus on the way up that the game is going to come down to the final two minutes,” Croy said following the game.
“I think tonight we were outplayed. You make a few plays at the end the thing can turn in the other direction, and that’s what happened tonight.”
Croy said that he felt like the Citrus College versus Bakersfield College rivalry is the best in community college basketball because of how close each of their games are.
“These games are incredible. They’re like ESPN instant classic games every time,” said Croy
“If you sold the video tapes people couldn’t believe these games, the kind of passion that people are playing with and the clutch plays that are being made when it counts the most.”
The Renegades finished the season with a record of 23-10 and an 8-4 record in the Western State Conference.