The men’s basketball team faced the San Mateo Bulldogs on Friday, Jan. 17, losing 84-75. This loss marks De Anza’s fourth consecutive defeat this season. Despite a slow first half, the Mountain Lions’ improved defense and offensive execution in the second half, which sparked a comeback effort and overall made for a strong second half.
De Anza assistant coach Patrick Gallmann reflected on the team’s struggles, especially in the first half, where they committed 10 turnovers and allowed San Mateo to hit numerous uncontested three-pointers. The Mountain Lions however came out in the second half with a lot more momentum. They had more defensive stops, which Gallmann termed three stops as a “kill”, stating that they had zero kills in the first half and four in the second (12 stops in the second half).
“We are proud of these guys,” Gallmann said. “We were missing our sophomore lead point guard, and then Tre (Fields), a starter, went down. We were playing with men down and we made it a game.”
Forward Sean Crowley (De Anza No. 32), 20 years old, business administration major, expressed satisfaction with their teamwork despite their opponents strong start to the game. “I think we did a good job playing together,” Crowley said. “At the end they (San Mateo) just went on a run, but I’m happy with how we played.”
Guard Theo McDowell (De Anza No. 24), 18, business major, was proud of his team’s resilience in the second half. He however felt that the teams first half, ultimately left too much ground to make up.
“I think that in the second half we battled hard and fought, played good defense, and we actually outscored them in the second half. So I was pretty proud of our team’s second half effort,” McDowell said. “But our first half effort was terrible, and we can’t afford to do that in the best conference in the state.”
The absence of key sophomore starting point guard, Justice Owens, (De Anza No. 4) and forward Tre Field (De Anza No. 30) getting injured in the first half had an impact on the team’s game. McDowell expressed lack of usual leadership on the court but credited his teammates for stepping up in their absence. “I believe in them, and I felt like they stepped up. They did the best they could, and I’m really proud of them,” McDowell added.
As McDowell reflects on the season, he knows De Anza needs to focus on fundamentals to improve and come back stronger.
“We’ve got some tough games coming up, so we just got to focus on the little things again, like boxing out, getting rebounds, attacking the rim, and getting to the foul line,” McDowell said. “If we can do that we have a better chance to win more games.”
When asked about facing San Mateo later in the season, McDowell said, “Oh yeah, we’re beating them.”
The Mountain Lions are determined to take what they have learned from each loss and come out on top when they meet San Mateo again on Feb. 12.
Not only do they have to prepare for the rematch, their next game which De Anza will host on Wednesday, Jan. 22, against City College of San Francisco, the number one seed in the California Community College Athletic Association, will be a challenge they look forward to. Gallman was optimistic as the Mountain Lions look ahead to the remainder of the season. “We are just going to keep working so we are ready for San Francisco, the number one seed.” Gallman said. “We’ve just got to keep grinding. We call it the grind.”
While this loss to San Mateo has continued De Anza’s losing streak, the Mountain Lions are committed to learning from their mistakes for future success this season.
