The Bakersfield College men’s basketball team is 18-5 and 4-3 in the Western State Conference after a loss to conference rival Citrus on Saturday night.

The Renegades are trying to get back to form after dropping two of the opening four conference games. With early losses to Citrus at home and L.A. Valley on the road, the Renegades continued on in conference play in third place.

Head coach Rich Hughes talked about the team’s early struggles and how they can make a comeback in the conference.

“We have work to be done, because we’re third in conference, and we’re just not used to that,” said Hughes. “We have to dig in deeper than we have been, inside ourselves, and try to find a way to keep getting some more wins.”

“We can do it, we’re good enough, we just have to do the little things to keep winning,” he continued.

Hughes went on to say how he keeps them team in focus for the last round of conference games.

“We’re in third and every game is important. I’ve told them we can’t look ahead, we just have to keep winning and hope for some help from some other teams along the way,” said Hughes.

“I think our first round [of conference games] had the tougher away games, and I believe our second half favors us. Hopefully we can respond and just keep getting wins.”

Hughes went on to talk about the strength of the conference and how teams are just getting better all around.

“It’s always a strong conference, it’s just that much stronger this year,” said Hughes.

BC went on to play Glendale on the road and came out with the win moving them back into second place in the conference. The Renegades defeated Glendale 74-68. Sophomore forward Bobby Fisher led all scorers with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Up next was another shot at Citrus.

Citrus defeated the Renegades 84-80, but BC remained in second place in conference although they are tied with Canyons and L.A. Valley.

The Renegades struggled in multiple areas according to Hughes.

“Rebounding and defending were our major problems. We just haven’t been effective on the glass,” said Hughes.

There were things Hughes liked about the what his team did, however. He spoke about the positives he’s seen, and what he expects for the upcoming game against West L.A.

“We played well as a team, and we showed we can play with any ranked team in the state,” said Hughes. “The game against West L.A. should be a high scoring game, and I think we can pull out the win if we just rebound well and just continue to do the positive things we talk about in practice.”

Next on the calendar for BC is West L.A. at home on Feb. 3 and at College of the Canyons on Feb. 6.