De Anza College’s basketball team took another loss as San Mateo cruised to its seventeenth victory of the season, ending the game 87-59 on Feb. 13.
The losing streak continues as this game marks its sixth defeat over the last seven games, with an average score deficit of 22 points over the stretch.
“Rebounding, defense, getting in front of defenders,” said guard and forward Dasan Poston (De Anza No. 15), 19, psychology major. “Same old thing.”
The Mountain Lions lost in most major statistical categories except turnovers in this game. Losing the rebounding battle 38 to 25, only shooting 4 of 20 from the 3-point line as San Mateo shot 14 of 28, and racking up 13 free throw attempts to the Bulldogs’ 21.
The game started off with guard Jeremy Pierro (San Mateo No.8) scoring his team’s first four shots, all behind the 3-point line, to establish a 13-6 lead five minutes in.
De Anza would hang around with contributions from guard Mehki Thomas (De Anza No. 2), 20, political science major, who would have seven of De Anza’s first 19 points, and finish individually with 20 points on 57% shooting.
Despite De Anza’s early shooting struggles and San Mateo’s 3-point performance, the Mountain Lions only remained down 9 points heading into half, until the buzzer-beating 3-point shot from Jeremy Pierro to end the half, prompting a 41-29 deficit.
“They had eight (3-point shots) at half,” said head coach Joe Berticevich in reference to San Mateo’s shooting. “We need to be able to guard guys.”
Team captain guard-forward Theo McDowell, 19, business administration major (De Anza No. 24), took responsibility for the defensive slump.
“We just have to be better on defense, and we have to be more aggressive on offense,” McDowell said.
From that point on, the Bulldogs held onto their lead for the rest of the game. They continued their assault of 3-point shots and defensive stops to establish a 21-point lead by the 16:21 mark, after which they never led by less than 20 points to finish the game.
“I feel like we just have to play with desperation…every play like it’s the end of the world,” guard Eric Woods, 18, kinesiology major, said. “I feel for it to be a great team, a championship team, you need that.”
The Mountain Lions now have a 10-17 record on the season, with a 4-9 conference record as well. Their final game of the season was a home game on Friday, Feb. 20, where the team beat Skyline 91-48.
“I just like to see energy from anybody,” Jordan North, 18, business administration major, said. “That’s all it really takes to get a win.”
