Both Humboldt basketball teams struggled against Sonoma State. (Mark Larson/contributed)
Another pair of CCAA Conference losses to Cal Poly Humboldt basketball teams will leave a sour taste in their mouths heading into the holiday break before conference play resumes Dec. 31 in Chico.
The men’s team will play one non-conference game Saturday on the road against Western Oregon University, desperate for a win. The Jacks men’s team (2-6, 0-4) has lost four straight while scoring fewer than 60 points in each loss. It was the perfect start to conference play for Humboldt coach Chris Tift’s first year, as his team is the only winless school in the CCAA with only one of their losses being within single digits.
On Saturday, the men’s team lost on the road to Sonoma State 68-50 and without its two key forwards, freshmen Bijan Slater (foot) and Isaac Sowell (illness) missed the game in hopes of returning for Saturday’s game. The bench on offense played well with freshman Sage Wayans starting and junior Chase Hettinger in the reserve role.
“I thought they did a good job, just being able to execute and do what we asked them to do and make some shots,” Tifft said of Hettinger and Waynes. “We have a lot of moving pieces to settle, but I think they did a really good job.”
Hettinger scored seven points while Wayans scored a team-high nine points. The team’s leading scorer with just nine points says a lot about the lack of success on the offensive end for Humboldt currently.
“You’re in a situation where you’re trying to be simple but you’re also looking for things to try to help them. When you add new plays, new wrinkles, new looks, they still have to learn that,” Tifft said of his offense. After watching the video, he still I have a lot of hope for our guys, and our guys do too.
Free throws were again an issue for Humboldt, as they went 6-13 against Sonoma and so far in conference play have shot just 57% from the line, worst in the CCAA at 7%. The tough offensive stats don’t stop there, as Humboldt averaged the fewest points in the conference while turning the ball over for the second-most.
Fortunately for Tifft and the team, the defensive numbers are mostly in the middle of the pack which has kept the games as close as they have been.
“It’s about cohesion, and that’s something we’ve been fighting since we got here. We’re the definition of operation right now,” Tefft said.
Former Arcata Tigers Brandon Pinto-Jackson earned his first collegiate start as he played a season-high 35 minutes while recording six points and four assists.
After starting the conference 2-0, the women’s team (4-4, 2-2) lost back-to-back road games with a 64-54 loss to Sonoma State on Saturday. The Jacks led 47-36 heading into the fourth in another low-scoring game for Humboldt but Sonoma caught fire in the fourth, outscoring Humboldt 28-7 to close out the game.
Three straight Jacks turnovers to start the quarter brought Sonoma within five and they were far from done. Humboldt was held scoreless from the 6:41 mark until there was only 1:29 remaining when the Jacks were already looking at a six-point deficit as Humboldt’s defense faltered and the offense cooled down at an inopportune time.
“It was a bad combination of turning the ball over and not stopping defensively, and that happened multiple times in a row,” Humboldt women’s coach Michelle Pinto-Jackson said.
Like the men’s team, the women’s team also ranks last in the conference in scoring at just 51.8 points per game, but having the second-best scoring defense gives the team a calling card, even if it had a poor fourth-quarter performance against Sonoma.
With 22 days between games, this gives Humboldt plenty of time to find themselves as a unit as well as continue to integrate junior goalkeeper Emilia Long into the team after Long joined the team after the start of the regular season.
“I’m really happy about this break because we can focus on ourselves because we need time, and we still have Emilia Long thrown into the fire here,” Pinto Jackson said. “Just keep her aware of everything we do on both ends of the floor.”
Long, the team’s leading scorer, had another good outing on Saturday with 17 points, four assists and four steals, all of which led the Jacks.
Neither team will return home until Jan. 11 against Cal State Monterey Bay, and once both teams return after the break, they will have a two-month sprint to the end of conference play in hopes of mustering enough offense to power their way to the conference championship.
Dylan McNeil can be reached at 707-441-0526.
College basketball is a sport filled with passion, competition, and excitement. Recently, the basketball teams from Sonoma College, led by coach Jack, had a challenging road trip resulting in two back-to-back losses. Despite the tough start, the teams are determined to bounce back and showcase their talent on their home court. The road ahead may be tough, but with hard work and determination, Sonoma’s basketball teams are ready to rise to the challenge and make their mark in the college basketball world.