Cañada men's basketball back to playoffs

Entering the final three weeks of the season, Cañada was holding strong in second place in the Coast Conference North. Then the Colts plummeted, losing four straight in games to Ohlone, Las Positas, San Francisco and Foothill.

In the Colts’ Feb. 16 season finale at Chabot, they salvaged a 93-49 victory to get back in the win column for the first time since Jan. 26.

“The Chabot game was a must-win for us to get in the playoffs,” Cañada head coach Mike Reynoso said. “If we lost, it would have put our chips in someone else’s basket; and it wouldn’t have looked good.”

Two major events impacted the Colts’ season. One, neighboring Skyline College suffered a tragedy with the death of sophomore forward KeDraun Buckner. The 20-year-old died in the early morning Jan. 31. Later that night, Cañada’s four-game losing streak began.

Reynoso said several of his players were good friends with Buckner.

“You can tell we just dropped on the energy level,” Reynoso said. “What a thing to deal with for Skyline.”

Then, after the Feb. 2 loss to Las Positas 94-89, sophomore forward Antony Navarrete opted to leave the team. He was the Colts’ second-leading scorer and rebounder behind sophomore Keith Dickerson.

Reynoso said the reason for Navarrete’s departure was for transfer purposes, as the sophomore is garnering interest from a California State Division II school that works on the semesters system, allowing for 10 semesters of playing eligibility. Staying with the Cañada team another month would have cost Navarrete a seventh semester of eligibility.

“He needs to worry about his future,” Reynoso said. “But during the losing streak that was another big component of it.”

Former Westmoor standout Sean Orr stepped into the starting forward role, averaging 22 minutes per game since then. Cañada’s starting five rounds out with Dickerson, former Menlo-Atherton point guard Eric Norton, a true freshman, sophomore guard Marcel Burton, and freshman guard Noah Conner.

Cañada ranks third in the state in steals, a component of the team’s signature aggressive defense. According to Reynoso, though — not too aggressive.

“When we defend the way we’re coached to we’re really potent,” Reynoso said. “In that sense we just play and try to make the team make mistakes. We don’t gamble. We just try to put ourselves in a position where we defend well and capitalize on the other team’s mistakes.”

Cañada has now advanced to the postseason three times in the last four years. Last season, the Colts reached the California Community College Elite 8 before falling 83-65 to Las Positas. In 2014-15, they reached the state Final Four, falling in an opening-round overtime heartbreaker to Saddleback 75-68.