Renegades defeat West Hills 79-47
All that delicious holiday food and extra free time spent with friends and family since its last game 20 days ago did nothing to derail the Bakersfield College men’s basketball team from returning to action in top form.
The Renegades showed no rust in a 79-47 blowout victory over West Hills Coalinga on Thursday night at the Gil Bishop Sports Center.
Terrin Dickey scored 13 points and 7 rebounds for BC, which lead from start to to finish in posting its ninth victory in its last 10 games.
Tyler Silva had 12 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds and Larry Atkerson added 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Renegades, who led by 15 points at halftime and by as many as 36 in the second half.
Four of BC’s starters scored in double figures including Kemonte Jackson with 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting. The 6-foot-6 guard was 2 of 3 from three-point range.
BC’s aggressive man-to-man defense held West Hills to 26.7% from the field.
The Falcons (6-7) had the exact same shooting numbers (8 of 30) both halves.
“We have to defend; that’s our identity,” BC coach Aaron Chavez said. “We’re going to being a defensive level team. We call it having a dragon mentality. You have to be tough. You have to be tough-minded and defend. Just keep getting after it defensively.”
Devion Edwards tallied 15 points and 14 rebounds for West Hills, which suited up only seven players, and had only 10 bench points.
BC, which defeated West Hills 84-63 last month, got 24 points from its reserves.
In addition to playing stellar defense, the Renegades’ cause was helped greatly by an offensive attack that turned over the ball only 12 times. Two of those were shot clock violations.
Despite local products comprising only five of the the 15 players that saw action, Silva (Frontier High), Atkerson (Foothill High), and Jackson (Golden Valley High) have all played a big part in BC’s success this season.
Silva, a 6-foot-1 guard, leads the team in scoring (11.8).
“Tyler’s steady,” BC coach Aaron Chavez said. “He’s just really improved, just his attitude. Tyler’s tough. I’m a stern person so it takes discipline and structure to play for me and Coach Glover, and he’s really bought into it. And that’s why you’re starting to see Tyler getting better, because he can take it.”
Atkerson is BC’s top rebounder this season (7.1 per game) and ranks fourth on the team in scoring (9.3).
“Larry stays around the rim,” Chavez said. “When you stay around the rim you have a chance because you can offensive rebound. We call him Jackrabbit. He can catch and go up.”
BC (9-4) returns to action on Saturday with a home game at 3 p.m. against Reedley.
Four days later the Renegades start league play with a home game against Citrus.