Despite leading for a majority of the game, the Los Medanos College men’s basketball team had to fend off a last-minute comeback against Diablo Valley College to come away with a 104-97 victory.
“I thought we played very unselfishly,” LMC head coach Derek Domenichelli said. “It’s a game we really wanted to win.
Center Tochi Onyeador played a big part in the Mustangs victory. He recorded a double-double and added four blocks to help lockdown the key and keep the DVC Vikings at bay. Guards Ramon Bailey and AJ Dungo also recorded double-doubles while JJ Robertson led the team in scoring with 24 points on the night. DVC was able to keep pace with the Mustangs and battled back from numerous double digit deficits. However, the Vikings could never cut the LMC lead down to less than five points.
What kept the Vikings within striking distance all night long was their ability to get second chance scoring opportunities with offensive rebounds. Several times LMC’s defense forced a bad shot but DVC would end the possession with a score following an offensive rebound.
While Onyeador had a strong game in the paint, foul trouble caused the Mustangs to miss his rebounding. Bailey stepped up big in the rebounding department when Onyeador was out and led the team with 12 rebounds.
“[Onyeador] is the second-leading rebounder in the state,” Domenichelli said. “Him being off the floor half the game really hurt.”
With Onyeador on the bench, LMC opted for a smaller lineup with forward Vinny Andrea hitting three crucial three-pointers in the Mustangs win over the Vikings.
While the Mustangs didn’t turn the ball over as much as in previous games, the number of mistakes allowed the Vikings to keep the score close.
“It was better tonight than it’s been,” Domenichelli said. “It’s a process, we’re getting better at it, but we have to be able to take care of the ball.”
While the Mustangs led by 13 points in the final four minutes, the victory didn’t come without a scare. With under a minute to play, back-to-back three-pointers from the Vikings and a missed free throw from the Mustangs gave DVC a glimmer of hope.
Despite the late comeback attempt, the clock was not on the Vikings side as time ran out with the team seven points short. However, Domenichelli was not too worried by his team’s difficulty to finish out the game.
“It’s just one of those things, it’s early in the season and we’ve got some rookies out there,” Domenichelli said. He added, “We’ll get better at it. The important thing is we closed the game off and got the win.”
