Los Medanos College men’s basketball team beat Napa Valley College by a convincing 101-73 score on Jan. 27. This was an important game for the season as it was a conference face-off that had vital complications if both teams were to make the playoffs.

The men’s basketball head coach, Derek Domenichelli, has provided excellent service to the team for 19 seasons while conjuring 12 playoff appearances during his tenure. Going into this season, he has high hopes for the team with the recent game being a highlight of this statement.

For the duration of the game, coach Domenichelli made his voice heard to his players and the audience. He continuously called out different plays and tried to motivate his players to get a better outcome for his team on the current play. 

However, there were points in the game where they didn’t give the impression of winning. After Mustangs won Tip-Off, they started off missing a pair of triples, and for about 3 minutes the score was low for both teams at 7-7. It wasn’t until LMC started to get into an offensive rhythm that they began to use the extra passes on offense to create lanes inside for layups while being more aggressive on defense. 

Not to mention how hot Hamza Najib got from the wing as the 1st period was coming to a close. There was no stopping his output in that game. While Adegoke Adeyemi was boxing out and sending shots back, Jason Zimmer was also hustling for the loose balls while also dropping some incredible passes to each member of his team, who were all feeling the hot hand. By the time the buzzer sounded for the half, the score read 53-33 with the Mustangs in the lead. 

The Mustangs held onto this lead early with an assist from Adeyemi to Ramon Bailey and then with Zimmer drawing a quick foul in the paint. This period started off with a 14-6 run for the Mustangs as the score was 67-39 at the 17-minute mark. The Storm held on though, starting to hit some tough fadeaway midrange shots. LMC countered with three-pointers off of wonderfully placed passes. 

At 13:39, the score was 72-50, and the offense wasn’t stopping soon. At the 5-minute mark, Adeyemi was able to block an attempt at the rim, which ultimately was where the game peaked for the Storm. The game ended with the Mustangs heading into the locker room happy and elated beating a conference rival.

The next home game for the men’s basketball team will be a conference game against Marin College on Feb. 3, 2023. For more information about the men’s basketball team, visit https://www.losmedanos.edu/basketball/mens/index.aspx.