The Big 8 Conference is highly competitive this season, and the SRJC men’s basketball team is looking to keep up with the competition.

The Bear Cubs are currently in fourth place in the Big 8 Conference with a 15-7 overall record and 5-3 in conference games. With five games remaining on the schedule, the Bear Cubs have already achieved as many wins as they earned all of last season when they finished 15-13 and didn’t make the playoffs.

Coach Craig McMillan in his 11th season as head coach has experienced success and downfalls during his tenure, but is always pushing his players to become great people. “They’re student-athletes before athletes, so I try to ready them in more ways than becoming a basketball player. There’s more important things and I understand that,” coach McMillan said.

The team strategy this season is to play from the outside in, meaning the players spread the floor early with the three pointers to soften the defense, then push the inside to the post. “Since the competition is tough night-in night-out, we try to find our match-ups every game, but mostly we do play the outside game early to post up,” coach McMillan said.

Lorenzo McCloud, a transfer from Panola College in Texas, is a pleasant surprise for the Bear Cubs, leading the team in scoring with 19.1 points per game. McCloud also leads the team in assists with 3.8 assists per game. McCloud has provided solid defense, while showing leadership on and off the court.

The team has two players returning from last season, starting point guard Matt Raivio and sharp shooter Tim Oswald. However, freshmen guard Michael Santos redshirted last season and sophomore guard Robby Burroughs returns after sitting out all of last season with an injury. Burroughs was the starting shooting guard his freshmen year. His maturity and leadership will be essential for the younger Bear Cubs.

Henry Gill and Sama Taku’s contributions will also be crucial to the team’s success this year. Gill only played one season of high school basketball his freshmen year before sitting out two seasons, but he decided to rejuvenate his basketball career and join the Bear Cubs. Gill is one of the best all-around athletes on the team scoring 9.0 ppg and averaging 5.1 rebounds per game.

Taku is the youngest player on the squad at age 17, but is definitely finding his groove. Taku has tremendous potential already averaging 11.7 ppg and 4.9 rpg.

The Bear Cubs average 72.6 ppg and are second in conference with 1,670 total points scored. The team seems to have the offense settled, however the defense needs improvement. “We’re good enough to beat anybody on the schedule, we just need to work on consistency on defense,” coach McMillan said.

The team’s next home game is Feb. 8 against Sierra.