2008 Woodie Awards
Men's basketball lose home opener
Joe Chunnic and Quan Luong
Issue date: 12/1/08 Section: Sports
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De Anza fell behind early, 12-2 after a 10-0 run by Chabot, and couldn't quite match the intensity and communication proved to be a hindrance to De Anza.
In the beginning of the first half, the Gladiators picked up a couple fouls early, but they were still leading over the Dons, as the Dons got into the bonus fairly early, but only had six free-throw attempts.
"I was really disappointed with the team's performance, Dons head coach Jason Damjanovic said. "As of right now, we're not playing as a team and the players have a hard time communicating with each other."
By the time the first half had ended, the Dons trailed Chabot 50-28, shooting 32.4 percent from the field.
In the second half, the Dons made some adjustments and were able to keep pace with Chabot's frantic scoring and tough defense. The Gladiators were tough inside the paint, with five blocks on the night, to De Anza's zero.
Shooting guard Melvin Sneed led the Dons offensively with 21 points and was 7-8 from the free-throw line. Point guard Jeremy Rios chipped in 15 points for the Dons, who shot a bleak 7-25 from beyond the arc.
"There are ten players on my team who are freshmen," Damjanovic said. "Right now they're having a hard time following my directions, especially when I asked them to make the plays that I've assigned for them to do."
The young team struggled offensively, shooting 35.2 percent overall, while Chabot shot a stunning 38-51, scoring 101 points to the Dons' 71.
"As a team, we did the best we could," Sneed said. "They're a brilliant team, but we just need to practice harder and work as a team so that way we'd be able to get the team back on track again."
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