On Nov. 19, the Mustangs played their first home game against Cañada College losing 95-88 in a match that went into second overtime.
Instead of being played in four quarters, the game was in two 20-minute halves.
In the first half, Cañada was doing a good job in drawing fouls meaning they would get more free throws leading to more points. They also hit a majority of their three-pointers in the first half, shooting 40 percent for the game.
The Mustangs showed a lot of determination. At one point in the third quarter, they were down 20 points. They came back and tied it up because of the offensive performance by Guards No. 4 Andruw Galindo and No. 12 Donovan Saiyad.
The Mustangs played exceptional defense throughout the game causing Cañada to have 23 turnovers and they started getting stops the offense would feed off that and score.
Galindo had 24 points providing three-point shooting when needed. He praises how his team came out of halftime and says the team has time to progress.
Head Coach Rick Ressa praises his team’s fight and says how they can build off the strong performance.
“Our objective is to play our best basketball at the end of the year, obviously we had a disappointing first half but I really like our kids grit and determination and I really like the effort,” Ressa said. “Our defense did very well, especially in the second half which I feel we can build off.”
Forward No. 15 John Harris had 22 points and 7 rebounds. He also helped the comeback effort with his defense. Harris had multiple blocks and hit some second-chance shots to keep the Mustangs in the game.
Center No. 23 Dwight Strickland was also rebounding and scoring in the post very well. Guard No.3 Lorenzo Leonard made lots of good passes and provided consistent scoring throughout the game.
He made the game-tying free throws showing aggression getting to the line.
Saiyad agreed with Ressa saying he was excited to see the effort of his team in the second half.
“We played amazing defense in the second half. I think it really motivated our guys. If we started out consistently in the first half we would’ve had a better shot at winning but we definitely showed hustle out there coming back from a big lead,” Saiyad said.
Galindo says as long as they stick to the gameplan they’ll be good.
“We came out strong in the second half, we just gotta execute that in the first half because coach had a really good game plan for us,” Galindo said after the game. “It’s still early we have a lot of time to progress and get better as a team so we’re not too worried about it.”
He also praised the forwards rebounding and has confidence in his team going forward.
The Mustangs move to 1-3 on the season and their next home game will be Dec. 14 at 3 p.m. against Ohlone.
