The De Anza Mountain Lions lost to the City College of San Francisco Rams on Feb. 14 in San Francisco, 82-71.
Size in the Mountain Lions’ frontcourt was the deciding factor in De Anza’s Valentine’s Day loss. The City College’s game plan to attack the post led to an early 13-point lead for the Rams.
The pressure on the post enabled drive-and-kicks that saw guard Rickey Mitchell Jr. (CCSF No. 13) get going from beyond the arc.
The mismatch on the block throughout the game emphasized the importance of De Anza’s quality of shots.
Forward Tre Fields (De Anza No. 30) got the scoring campaign started for the Mountain Lions with a 3-point jumper by way of a cross-court skip pass from sophomore wing Sean Crowley (De Anza No. 32).
The aforementioned lack of height in the Mountain Lions front court enabled a “five-wide” offense.
This created a wealth of space in the middle of the floor as City College predominantly stayed in a man-defense scheme. When the jump shot is falling for the Lions, the five-wide offense is difficult to match up with.
Forward Sean Crowley (De Anza No. 32) was the engine in the city. The three-level wing got to his spots with little resistance.
Crowley hit several baseline fades straight out of the Adrian Dantley bag.
Rams saw a ten-point lead going into the break, 39-29 at the half.
The Mountain Lions played 40 minutes of first-to-the-floor basketball in San Francisco. De Anza ultimately did not have depth at the center position available in San Francisco.
De Anza head coach Joe Berticevich spoke to the early game plan defensively, coming out in zone-heavy looks to match up with a size deficit defensively. “We started in 2-3 (zone) looks and ended up trying some 3-2 (zone) looks, but when the other team is hitting shots, you can’t really do much,” Berticevich said. “They’re (City College) the number one team for a reason.”
After the game, Berticevich made one thing clear.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the guys. With all things considered, when you come into the No. 1 team’s (City College) building and are down five with two minutes left, it’s a positive,” Berticevich said.
De Anza played 40 minutes of competitive basketball against the No.1 team in the conference. The Mountain Lions took a punch in the mouth early, yet an honest judge could go either way on how the Lions fared the rest of the way.
Guard and forward Theo McDowell (De Anza No. 24) plays basketball like a running back. McDowell is not interested in whomever may find themselves picking him up in transition. Like a hot knife through butter, McDowell was getting to the cup.
The Mountain Lions are taking on the Las Positas Hawks on Feb. 19 at home.
