The De Anza College men's basketball team anticipated a win against the Gavilan Rams in their second Coast Conference game of the season with both teams seeking a win. Coming into the game, the Rams had a nine-game losing streak and the Dons a 14-game losing streak.
During warm-ups the Dons looked fierce. Sophomore shooting guard Melvin Sneed said the team was feeling "rowdy and excited," seeing this game as "an opportunity to get another victory."
As the game began, both teams were moving at the same pace, responding to each other's scores. Ten minutes into the first half, the game was tied 16-16.
Adam Close, a sophomore power forward and center, said the Rams "were real small" in size, which forced Head Coach Jason Damjanovich to move "into a smaller lineup" and rely on the more agile team members.
As the game continued, the intensity started to pick up and the ball began flying across the court.
Sneed and power forward Kris Gingrich were already the scoring leaders for the Dons. Gingrich and Sneed, with the help of the rest of the team, were able to get De Anza ahead by halftime, 36-32.
The second half started off with more determination from both teams. Gingrich said that during halftime Coach Damjanovich was pretty upset and told the team they "were not playing hard enough and they needed to get more energy."
Five minutes into the second half, the score was tied 47-47.
Arron Mollett, a freshman at Gavilan College, was breaking through the Dons' defense. Mollett was scoring 3-pointers, lay-ups and free throws while De Anza was trying to conjure a way to stop him.
"He only missed two or three shots," said Close. "It would have been beneficial to focus the defense more on [Mollett]. He was on fire!"
With the clock winding down, and the Dons looking for a way to stop Mollett, De Anza was able to tie the game again at 69 with 5:20 remaining. The Dons were becoming frustrated, as they could not get a comfortable lead on Gavilan.
"It's tough in situations like this where you play good defense and they are still hitting shots," said Close.
With 1:30 remaining, Gavilan led by four over the Dons, 77-73. It became De Anza's priority to score by any means necessary. Every time the ball was up for rebounding, the Dons were reaching to grab the ball.
With 14.9 seconds left, Gavilan led 79-77.
Gavilan added two points leading up to the last 0.8 of a second. It was 81-77 when De Anza Don, Zach Stevenson, was at the free throw line with two shots. He sunk the first making it 81-78; timeout Dons.
Coach Damjanovich drew up a play for Stevenson to intentionally miss the free throw, hoping one of the Dons could rebound the ball and pass it to a teammate standing at the three-point line and shoot for the tie.
De Anza couldn't get a hand on the ball and the clock expired, losing the game 81-78.
After the game, Gingrich said that if they could have stopped Mollett "we would have won that game for sure."
The Dons are looking for inspiration right now, whether it is from their coach or from each other. However, if the team cannot pull together soon, then any hope of making the playoffs will be slim.
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