The Centralia College men’s basketball team didn’t have the season it envisioned at the beginning of the year, but the Trailblazers were able to go out with a bang by cruising past Pierce College 90-64 in front of a home crowd on Sophomore Night.
“I’m extremely proud of the guys,” Centralia College men’s coach Joe Chirhart said. “It’s always awesome to send the sophomores out on a high note like that. It’s really fun to see and really fun to be a part of. It’s really cool to be in this atmosphere, and to do it in front of a home crowd with all the support.”
Kevin Williams, one of CC’s three sophomores, hit a three less than a minute into the game, giving the Trailblazers a lead they would never relinquish and kickstarting a fantastic night from beyond the arc.
Centralia College (3-25) hit 17 threes on the night, a season-high.
“We’ve had good shooters all year,” Williams said. “We had a good team … We didn’t get to put it together and go to the NWACs like we wanted to, but they shot the lights out tonight, and I loved every second of it.”
Williams led the way with five threes, and he finished the night with a game-high 25 points while adding eight assists and four steals.
“That was so fun to go out with my brothers like that,” Williams said. “I couldn’t have thought of a better way to go out. I had a blast.”
Jovany Guzman and Reilly McIlraith, the other two sophomores, also made an impact throughout. Both scored eight points, while Guzman added six assists and two steals and McIlraith brought down three rebounds and dished out a pair of assists.
“They’ve really helped lay the foundation for anything we do here,” Chirhart, who just finished his second season at the helm in Centralia said. “They know how much I appreciate them. Any success that we have moving forward as a program was due to the things they helped us build here. I love Reilly, I love Kevin, and I love JoJo. They’ll always be Blazers.”
The freshmen also had their moments. Quinton Robinson finished with 14 points and five rebounds, and Tucker Lowber needed just 14 minutes to hit double-figures with 10 points.
Shay Brannon and Andrew Collins combined for 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Clay Morgan hit a pair of threes to finish with six points.
With just over seven minutes to play, the Trailblazers led by as many as 21 points. A Pierce run got the deficit to 12, but CC ended the game on a 16-2 run, including a late three from Guzman.
The strong performance already has Chirhart looking ahead to next season, and he said whatever success that the program has in the future will be because of the foundation this sophomore trio has helped build.
“I’m excited about the culture that they’ve been able to lay the foundation for,” Chirhart said. “With as many freshmen and athletes as we have coming back, I’m excited to see what next year looks like. If we can stay healthy, and stay on the grind early, we should be a force next year. Just gotta keep going.”
