Gerry Guerrero’s Career Highlights #21 CSI

Bucket by bucket. One punch after another as Guerrero hit clutch shots down the stretch helped CSI pull away in a game where a lead never seemed certain.

CSI redshirt freshman guard Guerrero and the Golden Eagles defeated Lane Community College (Oregon) 88-78 on Saturday at CSI Gymnasium on the final day of the Wright Physical Therapy Shootout.

Guerrero scored a career-high 14 points in his fourth straight start, while CSI star Isaac Hawkins collected 15 points and 11 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.

Whenever CSI needed a big hit, it called on its curly-haired energizer, who waited for such opportunities.

Guerrero broke away from the screens, lifted, swung and celebrated.

“That’s what you bring energy to my team, and when we lose or something, the energy is low,” he said Times News. “That’s why we bring it back and win the game.”

The Titans’ 53 percent advantage from 3-point range in the first half kept them in the contest. With a halftime score of 44:44, CSI was threatened with its first loss against a team from the Northwest Athletic Conference since 2019.

Guerrero’s timely shots – one that extended CSI’s lead to 11 points and one that gave CSI a nine-point lead – put the Titans away.

“Last year he (Guerrero) redshirted, and to be honest, coach never gave him (stuff), and to see him earn what he has and you see the work he put in into it,” CSI redshirt sophomore Walker Timme said Times News on Friday. “The extra work. Nobody deserves it more than him.”

Guerrero, a native of Tepic, Mexico, knew he would redshirt when he signed with CSI, he said.

He sat behind a point guard unit that included All-Americans Asim Jones (now at Florida International) and Jaylon Johnson (now at Tennessee Tech).

These guys provided numerous defining moments as Golden Eagles. Why couldn’t Guerrero?

“Games like this were always really good in these moments. So I learned from that,” Guerrero said.

CSI head coach Jeff Reinert still won’t say whether Guerrero will remain in the starting lineup, but “right now he’s the best (guard),” Reinert told the Times News.

The rotation will likely thin out as the season progresses. The Golden Eagles are in dire straits with rookie Cooper Kesler out for the season with a shoulder injury.

“You’ll see Cooper Kesler next year and he’ll be a diamond,” Reinert said.

The donations came from several guards, as Southern Utah signees Tanner Hayhurst and Kharyi Dunn each scored 12 points.

Timme joined double figures with 14 points in his first start of the season.

CSI (9-2 overall) will not host Blue Mountain Community College until Dec. 30 at 7 p.m.

The Golden Eagles travel to the Arizona Western Tournament in Yuma, Arizona to face Cochise College (7 p.m., Dec. 16), Arizona Western College (7 p.m., Dec. 17) and Central Arizona College (3 p.m., Dec. 18). December).