The men’s basketball team started off their season 3-3 after two tournaments to begin their 2002-03 season.
     At the Shasta tournament, Nov. 14-16, the Trojans lost their last two games to DeAnza College 65-64 on Nov.16 and to American River 66-61 on Nov. 15. In the close game against DeAnza, Head Coach Tony Raffetto said that he thought DeAnza played well by making Skyline turn over the ball.
     “The game against DeAnza was close because they did a good job of forcing us into turnovers,” Raffetto wrote in a Nov. 20 e-mail interview. “We turned it over 23 times.”
     Players like Tremaine Fuqua, Dewayne Morris, and Eldridge Henderson played well in the game, when Henderson went five of nine shooting from the floor and led the team with 20 points. Morris is starting to get a good feel of the Trojans offense and will get better as the season continues, as he dished out six assists. Fuqua had eight rebounds.
     In the game against American River both teams played well on defense and on offense. The Trojans couldn’t stop American River guard Soloman Mercado as he made plays for his team when it counted.
     In their first round game against Yuba Nov. 14, the Trojans won 68-65. In the three point win, Skyline wanted to get off to a good start in the Shasta Tournament.
     “We wanted to control the tempo of the game and get the ball down low where we felt like we are bigger and stronger.” Raffetto wrote. The Trojans wanted to get their hands on their two best shooters Kenny Smith and Brett Ost.
     In the San Jose City Tip-Off Classic Nov. 7-9, the Trojans started off their season well as they defeated Los Medanos 67-62 for their first win of the season. Their next game was against host team San Jose City College in which the Trojans lost 77-53.
     “We felt we had a shot against San Jose,” Raffetto wrote. The Trojans thought that if they could take care of the ball and shoot a good decent high percentage shot from the floor.
After their third place game against Hartnell where the Trojans won 70-64, Raffetto thinks that they learned from each game they played.
     “We’re never happy with finishing third, but we try to learn from our experience so we can win our next tournament.” Raffetto wrote.