Rams Basketball Team Walks Away Frustrated by Their 11-Point Lead Over De Anza College

 

By Brett Abel
babel2@mail.ccsf.edu

 

Valentine’s Day is a day for “the one.”

The City College men’s basketball team is ranked No. 1 in the state. It has only one loss this season. And the Rams were hosting a team with only one win this year in the Coast-North Conference.

But, in what the Rams coaches and players described as maybe their worst game of the season, the Feb. 14 game hosting De Anza College almost turned into a Valentine’s Day massacre.

“We were lucky,” said Rams associate coach Adam D’Acquisto after the 82-71 win. “If we play anyone else in the conference like that, we lose.

“If we play like we played tonight, we’ll only have three games left in the season,” he said after the penultimate week of games, with just two games left in the conference schedule on Feb. 19 and 21, and a post-season game upcoming.

Sophomore forward John Squire, a consistently strong player on the team, was disappointed in himself after the De Anza game. Along with his six points, he grabbed nine rebounds and had three assists and three blocks, two of which bookended two made free throws in the last 23 seconds of the game to maintain an 80-71 lead.

But his five offensive rebounds were matched by his five turnovers, which he attributed to De Anza’s zone defense.

“It was me not making the right reads,” he said. “They were daring us. I was overthinking.”

He said the games at the end of the season would be necessary to finish strong.

“For me, the next game (Feb. 19 at Chabot) is the most important to show where the team is at,” he said. “It’s a statement of where we are. I think we’re right there.”

Squire said the team needs a better mindset and more focus.

“No matter the opponent we play,” Squire said, “come in ready every game.”

“We beat a better team by 44 (on Feb. 12),” D’Acquisto said of a 109-66 win at Ohlone College. “That was as bad as it gets. (De Anza) just played harder than us. Effort level, decision making, lack of concentration was frustrating.”

 

The frustration peaked at 15:51 left in the second half when Rams coach Justin Labaugh was cited for a technical foul with his team, which was up 48-36. Labaugh had to leave the City College campus immediately after the game and was unavailable for comment.

While a coach taking the sacrificial technical foul is meant to inspire a better performance from a team that is not performing up to expectations, this one did not.

With 11:43 on the clock, the Lions (8-18 overall, 1-11 in conference) were within four points, down 52-48, before City College (25-1, 11-1) could reopen its lead and seal the victory.

“We have to watch this game and show them what not to do,” D’Acquisto said. He explained there’s a “fix it” button on the television in the film room, which will be pressed a lot during the re-watch.

Starting Rams sophomores Rickey Mitchell Jr., guard, and forward Antonio Pusateri had strong first-half performances that contributed to their final stat lines — scoring 24 and 17, with 14 and 10, respectively, in the first half.

“In the first half, we came out ready to play hot. We scored 25 points in five minutes,” Mitchell said. “At the end of the first half, we let off the gas and they came back.”

But aside from Mitchell and Pusateri, D’Acquisto called out the rest of the starters and a number of reserves after the game.

“(Sophomore forward) John (Squire), (sophomore guard) Jalen (Glenn), (sophomore guard) Jermaine (Haliburton), (freshman guard) James (Moore), (freshman forward) Vitor (Oliveria), (freshman guard) Dom (Dominic Williams)… (sophomore guard) Ray-John (Spears),” he said, “everyy single one of them, maybe had their worst game of the year.”

Squire, Glenn and Haliburton, all starters, each scored six points, shooting 5-18 from the field, including 2-9 from behind the 3-point arc – both of which were made by Haliburton.

Meanwhile, four of the five Lions starters scored at least 12 points. Sophomore guard Justice Owens had 17 points, three assists and three steals. Freshman guard/forward Theo McDowell and Sophomore forward Tre Fields each had 15, and sophomore forward Sean Crowley scored 12. However, the fifth starter, freshman forward Dominic Diaz, was held scoreless.

Three other Lions were held scoreless, as was the City College freshman guard Williams, who didn’t attempt a shot, had two rebounds and an assist.

“We played down to their level; there was no killer instinct in us,” Mitchell said.