Bobby Fisher had 34 points, but the Renegades men’s basketball team still lost in the semifinal round of the playoffs on Feb. 26 to Southwestern College of Chula Vista, by the score of 93-88.
Bakersfield College was rewarded for its season by being given the eighth seed, a bye for the first round and a home game for their second round game. Ninth-seeded SWC, in the greater San Diego area, was on a 16-game win streak heading into the playoffs, after going undefeated in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference, and came out ready to play according to Renegades head coach Rich Hughes. Hughes pointed to a slow start in the first half and how it affected the rest of the game.
“Killed us. It killed us, we didn’t come to play and we’re at home. We lost the game in the first half because we didn’t come to play, and they’re good,” said Hughes. “Our guys came out lethargic, didn’t want to play and you know, they nipped us.
“Right from the beginning, they were more focused. We acted like we weren’t even playing a playoff game. It was like we were playing for fifth place in a tournament,” said Hughes. “We’ve been preaching to them, and telling them, ‘hey, this team’s good,’ but we had a couple good days of practice and then today shoot-around was very lackluster. And then our warm-ups were just brutal, probably the worst of the year. They came right out and put it to us, and we couldn’t finish them off.”
The Jaguars started the game on a 15-6 run with 15 minutes left to play in the first half. Southwestern’s 6-foot-9, 295-pound freshman center Charles Joseph got off to a quick start and got the Renegades into early foul trouble. The PCAC first team post player had an array of offensive moves, which the Renegades just couldn’t stop.
Early on, BC got into the double bonus so every foul was a two-shot shooting foul for the rest of the half.
BC guard Skyler Vaden talked about the first-half woes and where it all started.
“I believe even from shoot-around this morning, we didn’t take the game serious. We felt just by looking at them [we could beat them], kind of underestimating them basically,” said Vaden. “So we came out in the beginning flat-footed. Not with the same intensity, that same fire that we usually have. That’s what cost us and gave them that lead in the beginning.”
BC started to slow the Jaguar offense, but could only get its offense going in transition. The half court offense was where the Renegades struggled the most. SWC played in a 2-3 defense for most of the game, which allowed BC deep open threes, but clogged the lane and led to highly contested lay-ups.
The Renegades couldn’t knock down the open looks they were given, but BC worked hard to get back into the game through their defense and transitional offense. On the defensive end the Renegades took charges and got several player-control fouls against SWC.
Around the 12-minute mark of the first half, BC made it a more manageable game bringing the score to 21-15. For the rest of the half, the game went back and forth, trading basket for basket until BC got a defensive stop and two layups by Fisher pulling BC to within three with the score at 53-50.
At the beginning of the second half, on the first possession, BC sophomore guard Rickey Wofford pulled up for a three and tied the score. The teams traded shots for a couple of possessions before Vaden came down court and shot a three to put BC ahead for the first time all night. After a defensive stop by the Renegades, sophomore guard E.J. Kirby put together a series of moves to get by the first defender and scored on a circus lay-up to extend the lead to 69-64.
SWC came down and was stopped by BC. The Renegades had a chance to extend the lead again, but went on a series of missed three-point attempts.
After the game, Wofford talked about some of those attempts.
“I could’ve took [taken] better shots. I’m the one that missed two of them, but they were good looks I guess, they [were] in and out, I thought I was going to make them, but it just didn’t happen for us,” said Wofford. “I guess it just wasn’t our night.”
With BC not able to hit on several consecutive possessions, the Jaguars again took the lead around the 12-minute mark with the score of 70-69 and would not lose it again.
This is where Anthony Cosentino, PCAC Player of the Year and Southwestern’s 6-6 freshman guard, asserted himself. Cosentino went on a scoring run, and by game’s end he managed to put up 20 points.
BC would pull close and tie the score but never regained a lead. The Renegades tied the score at the 4:30, 3:00, and 1:30-minute marks.
At the one-minute mark, Southwestern took its final lead at 88-86. Kirby drove to the basket, and attempted a layup but missed. Freshman guard Chase Adams dived for the ball but first grabbed a Jaguars player and was called for a loose ball foul. SWC went down to the other end and knocked down the two free throws to give them a four-point lead.
BC tried to play the free-throw game down the stretch, but still was in need of a three to tie the game with eight seconds left. Hughes called a timeout and ran through the play “special” that he had designed for specific times like these.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
The play broke down and ended with Fisher pulling up with a defender playing in close. The shot missed of the front of the rim and SWC grabbed the rebound.
Hughes said after the game he could live with that shot. He talked about the trust and belief he has in his guys, especially his sophomores.
“I can’t say it was a bad shot. If he felt he had a shot to take and felt he could make it I wouldn’t have it any other way. Bobby is a big part of what we do here, and his teammates trust him, and I trust he’ll make a good decision,” said Hughes.
Wofford and Vaden talked about Fisher taking the last shot as well.
“At that point in that game, only eight seconds left, he probably didn’t know how much time was on the clock and he just felt like he needed to shoot it,” said Wofford. “It is what it is man. Things happen for a reason and we just have to get over it.”
“We could have got it to a shooter really, but I guess he had it in his mind that he could hit it and knock it down. Bobby is my main man and if he had the confidence like he usually has and he felt he could knock it down, then it’s a good shot,” said Vaden.
Fisher talked about what he was thinking after the game and what cost them the game down the stretch.
“It’s going to be real tough to get over. I’m used to going to the Final Four, we went there my first year, and I was hoping to get back there again,” said Fisher. “We didn’t play defense, and we just didn’t play like ourselves. We didn’t play any defense, we didn’t block out or rebound and on offense we didn’t push the ball up court like we normally do.”
John Cosentino, SWC head coach and PCAC Coach of the Year, talked about Fisher’s ability to score.
“If Fisher gets 40, we lose,” he said. “We’ll settle for whatever he had, but had he gotten 40, we were done.”
John Cosentino mentioned how his team got the win.
“Our three best players played well, and that’s just what we needed,” he said.
Joseph ended up with 24 points, and Devone Davis added 20 points. For the Renegades, Adams had 11 points and Nick Markovich had nine.
For the Renegades, it’s the second consecutive year losing in the semifinal round. The Renegades finished the season with a record of 23-6 overall, and 9-3 in the Western State Conference.
John Cosentino praised Hughes and his program.
“Rich is consistent. They’ve had four or five consecutive years of around 23, 24 wins,” he said. “He just does a great job of keeping consistent and bringing a good team out every year.
“We were glad with the seeding, we felt like we are a nine and they were an eight. We had no problems with coming up here and playing an away game. This is what we earned, and I have no complaints with that,” said John Cosentino.
BC should have several returning players next year, as a majority of the team is freshman. Look for guards Stevie Howard, Adams, and Markovich to lead next year’s squad.
The five sophomores have more opportunity to showcase their talents for four-year schools. The Sophomore Showcase is March 13 at Moorpark College. The sophomores include guards Wofford, Vaden, Kirby, Jeffery Kirksey, and forward Fisher.