Claim Jumpers go undefeated at two-day Columbia Classic
Columbia College opened the traditional men’s basketball preseason campaign this weekend with the two-day, four-team Columbia Classic, hosting Merced College, Modesto Junior College and Butte College for a weekend slate of games at Oak Pavilion.
The Claim Jumpers, despite missing key rotation players, dominated the weekend as they defeated Butte College 76-65 on Saturday night and came back Sunday afternoon to blow out Modesto Junior College 89-65.
“It’s hard not to feel good about being 5-0, but it’s how we are doing it,” Claim Jumpers head coach Rob Hoyt said at the end of the weekend. “The effort has been really top notch and that is fun to watch.”
Columbia’s weekend began with a matchup against Butte, who was ranked No. 21 in Norcal in the CCCMBCA preseason coaches poll.
Sophomore point guard Kai Jordan picked up where he left off during the Jumpers’ preseason tournaments, notching a doubledouble to lead the team in both points and assists. He finished with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting to go along with 10 assists, four rebounds, three steals and a block, with only one turnover.
Used mostly as a defensive stopper at the point of attack last season, Jordan has embraced his role as a scorer and facilitator early this year. At 6-foot-3, Jordan overpowered Butte’s smaller backcourt on post-ups.
“My coaches believe in me and my team believes in me,” Jordan said. “I am just using my body and my strength, being bigger than those little guards.”
“Our strength is going to the hole and posting up,” he continued. “That was the key — to keep going to the paint (and) if they kept collapsing, kick to the shooters.”
Hoyt said that while Jordan’s usage as a scorer is more opportunistic than scheme-based, the point guard has shown an impressive ability to both score and make plays while operating down low.
“We are trying to take advantage of our advantage, and that was our advantage,” Hoyt said. “He is very good down there. The
years that we have had bigger, stronger guards with the cognitive ability to make reads out of there. … It puts the other team in a bind, like, how are you going to guard it?”
Everyone was involved for Columbia in their home opener, with five different Jumpers finishing with double-digit scoring totals.
Columbia forward Jonathan Dillon had 13 points, wing Ahmad Jeffries had 12, guard Rashaud Bradley had 11 and freshman guard Dean Perry went ballistic from the bench with 11 points on 3-of-3 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Perry drilled all three of his looks in the first half to propel Columbia to a 33-26 lead heading into the locker room.
“This was my first time really getting on the court this season, my first real minutes,” Perry said. “(When) I get the ball, I am kind of hesitant at first. Kai actually told me, he said, ‘Dean, shoot the ball.’”
“The third one, I was just feeling it. That was kind of a heat check,” Perry said with a laugh. “It wasn’t even open, I don’t think … I was feeling myself a little bit.”
Perry, a 5-foot-8 relative unknown coming into the season out of Rocklin High, was the surprise of the weekend for the Claim Jumpers, but Hoyt said it was earlier this preseason that he realized he had to find minutes for the freshman.
“You just know he is ready — you can see it,” Hoyt said. “He doesn’t pout, he doesn’t get teary-eyed. He is just a hungry dog, waiting to get fed.”
Up by more than 20 points late in the game against Butte, the Claim Jumpers’ execution softened. Hoyt was livid when their lead was whittled down to only 11 points.
He lit into the team after the win, demanding more effort from the group no matter the score.
“I don’t care if we are down 20 or up 20, they are supposed to play with a certain level of intensity and poise and execution,” Hoyt said. “The end of the game was far beneath that.”
The next day, leading MJC by only 40-32 at the half, he did it again. Hoyt’s squad responded, outscoring the Pirates 47-30 in a blowout, 89-62 victory.
They were led by Jeffries, who got red hot in the second half. The sophomore wing had four of his five 3-point makes in the second half, erupting for 14 secondhalf points as he knocked down shot after shot.
“First half, we didn’t really come out with the energy we needed to,” Jeffries said. “No knock to Modesto, but we just felt we could have played a lot better.
“My shot wasn’t falling in the first half, but Coach always tells me, ‘If you are a shooter, just keep shooting. Don’t count your misses.’ ”
Hoyt beamed about Jeffries after the win over MJC, both in terms of his on-court play and his value to the locker room.
“His number one attribute for this team is his voice, his poise and he has a unique stance in that he didn’t play a lot until January last year,” Hoyt said. “He came back from Christmas last year and it has been a different guy … he flipped that script and now he is probably the most valuable person in this program.”
Facing a 2-3 zone from MJC throughout the contest and missing top shooters Jay Clifton (gray shirt) and Parker Tuttle (personal leave) over the weekend, it was Jeffries’ shooting and the relentless attack of forward Jonathan Dillon down low that kept Columbia’s offense purring.
“That was the main thing for me, going into the game,” Dillon said. “I never shoot the ball, so what I can do is find the holes in the zone and attack from there. They find me every time.”
It wasn’t all good news for the Claim Jumpers this weekend, however. Freshman big man Caleb Comfort went down late in the team’s Sunday contest with an apparent knee injury. With Tuttle and Clifton already out, the once-crowded roster is looking thin.
Jeffries said the team’s message to Comfort was simple: “We have got your back.”
“Just keep your head up,” Jeffries said. “We have got his back, regardless of what happens. We are going to be with him throughout the recovery process, whatever that is. Hopefully it is minimal.”
With a long preseason schedule waiting for them, the Claim Jumpers will have to lean on their healthy players to carry them into Central Valley Conference play, beginning in December.
“Three years ago, we dismissed people. Last year, we lose our best player for league, essentially, and this year we have lost guys that are allleague type guys,” Hoyt said. “You kind of have to really sit and feel how you feel for a little bit, and then you have to move on. … We have got to worry about the things we can control.”
The Claim Jumpers will be in action again next weekend as they will host Cosumnes River College at 6 p.m. Saturday for the next game of their preseason campaign.