A tight finish for a spot in the playoffs is in store for Delta’s men’s basketball team as Big 8 play approaches its final phase.
Delta will want to rally wins to secure a spot in the postseason, and Delta head coach Richard Ressa wants his team to peak near the end of the season to do just that.
“We’re trying to play our best basketball at the end of the year, that’s our goal each year,” said Ressa.
Currently the Mustangs (17-9, 11-3 Big 8) are in first place of the Big 8 after picking up wins against Diablo Valley, Modesto, Sacramento City, Sierra and Cosumnes River.
Even as Delta finds itself at the top of the conference, a spot in the playoffs is still not guaranteed.
Sophomore guard Nikolas Levitt thinks he and the rest of the team need to give it their all in these final games of Big 8 play to make the postseason.
“The rest of the games are going to be a dog fight if we want to make playoffs. We all have to lock in at practice as if it’s a game and be ready for each game, because everyone’s coming for us,” said Levitt.
As Delta aims to reach its highest level of performance in the next couple of weeks, the players believe the team needs to pay attention to several details in order to maximize its potential on the court.
Levitt would like for the team to get on a good start in the first minutes of each game.
“We need to come out stronger. I feel like the last couple of games we’ve started off slow and then we get in a hole that’s hard to get out of,” said Levitt. “I think if we could start off strong and win the first four minutes we’ll be good.”
The team also seeks to make the most out of the time the ball is under its possession.
Freshman Vincent Olmo said he and his teammates need to have confidence in one another and not be hesitant when it comes to making decisions.
“We need to work on just trusting each other, working the offense and not forcing anything,” said Olmo. “I think a lot of times we speed ourselves up and take shots that aren’t the best, and that sometimes ends up killing us.”
The Mustangs currently have a 45.4 field goal percentage, scoring 77.7 points per game.
Freshman Deyton Magana leads in scoring, averaging 15.5 points per game,
Delta has fought hard to close out games with a win, only earning four league victories with at least a 10-point margin against Sierra on Jan. 14, twice against Sacramento City and in overtime against Cosumnes River this past Thursday night.
While the Mustangs don’t want to get ahead of themselves, they are confronting the last league games as if they were in the postseason.
“We have to treat every game like a playoff game,” said Olmo. “We have to keep the focus for every single game, we can’t look ahead. We’ve got to pay attention to the next game and keep working.”
Delta will seek to clinch a spot in the playoffs and possibly win the conference title when the team hosts its last two league games against Modesto on Feb. 19 and Folsom Lake on Feb. 24 to end Big 8 play.