In its second to last home game on Feb 5, the Delta Mustangs Men’s basketball team won 79 to 77 against Sierra College.
The score was a bit too close for comfort for Delta.
“We play almost every game like that so we know what to do. We’ve been winning, but they’ve been close wins,” said Jalen Valverde, no. 4.Travis August, no. #15, pulled the score up by a few points near the end of the game. His coaches applauded him after the game for securing the win.
“We need to pay attention to our detail. We lost our focus a little bit and it’s human nature. If you win as many as we have in a row, we tend to get a little lazy and so we need to amp up the focus,” said coach Richard Ressa.
Richard Moore, a Delta English professor, attended the game with his great-grandson. He noticed that the Mustangs had made mistakes in the first half of the game but quickly recovered, closing the gap in points.
“It’s a better game than I expected,” said Moore.
Delta’s cheer team showed up for the men’s game that night. They alternate cheering for both men and women’s basketball teams at home games in order to be fair and not tire themselves out. During breaks and timeouts, Mustang flier Gracie Ruiz entertained the crowd when she was tossed in the air time after time.
The Mustangs’ season is coming to a close.
“We just want to finish out strong, with all wins,” said Valverde.