The Mustangs’ Men’s Basketball team won its match against Modesto Junior College on Feb. 9.
The game concluded with a final score of 67-52, making it the team’s eighth win of the semester. The Mustangs showed strong teamwork in the match against Modesto, staying in the lead during the game.
“That’s what you want. It’s definitely a confidence booster. It can be that sometimes you get too high and start forcing to do stuff, but I feel like we did a really good job at noticing when we did get too high or too low and focusing on what we really need to do,” said point guard Dayton Magana.
Delta’s starting lineup consisted of players Julian Brown, Dayton Magana, Andrew Galindo, Dominic Perasso and Victor Domonick.
The Mustangs took the tipoff at the beginning of the match, which came at an advantage as forward player Perasso managed to score.
Modesto scored soon after but took a foul not long after.
Forward player Perasso scored soon after, but a foul led Modesto to retake the ball and score.
The game’s tone soon set with intensity between the teams, the Mustang’s scored one after the other, with Magana, Perasso and Galindo raising the team’s score.
Soon after, the Mustangs took a 30-second timeout, followed by small forward player Julian Brown getting two successful shots and a free throw.
After a time out from Modesto, Brown caught a rebound ball, which he passed to Perasso, who made a successful free throw after Modesto received a foul on a move against him.
The rest of the first half saw more successful plays, with good team coordination, three-player passes and keeping most of Modesto’s points increasing within the free throws.
At halftime, the score was 38-24, but there were several personal fouls on the Mustangs.
“Fouls are not too much of a concern, as we’re more worried about ourselves and doing what we have to do to sustain the lead and win,” said Brown.
The second half did begin on a sour note, with a foul on the Mustangs and Modesto getting in two free-throws as a result.
Nevertheless, the score was brought up again with successful shots between Galindo, Magana, and Perasso.
After the score margins increased further, Modesto did get a shot-clock violation, with the Mustangs getting the ball and making more successful two and three-point shots.
Later in the second half, Domonick showed exceptional initiative as he picked up the ball, after it fell out of players’ hands, and ran unguarded across most of the court to jump and dunk.
Mustangs continued to make more free throws and two-point shots as the game ended.
“A win is always good, especially on a night like this where we’re playing for something bigger than just basketball. Supporting all those with breast cancer, it’s always good to win on a night like that and show support to those people who are actually in need,” Magana said.
The night’s game for Men’s and Women’s Basketball also had a simultaneous event for Breast Cancer awareness, and players wished to acknowledge its significance.
“I have two grandmothers that both had cancer, so I really wanted to set out to win for them tonight. I suit up every game for them, so I really feel every game is necessary for me to win for them,” Brown said.