Tough Shooting Night Proves to be Costly for Delta Men

Muskegon, MI -  

The Delta College men's basketball team was looking to bring their winning streak to three games Tuesday night when they travelled to Muskegon Community College.  Unfortunately for the Pioneers, shooting woes hurt them and led to a road loss to the Muskegon Jayhawks 82-68.   

In a game that went back and forth early, the Jayhawks held a one point advantage, 11-10 at the twelve minute mark.  The next five minutes proved to be costly to the Pioneers as the Jayhawks went on a 17-0 run and took a 28-10 lead with seven minutes left in the half.  The Jayhawks kept their hot shooting going and cruised into halftime with a 52-31 lead.  Muskegon ended the half 8-18 from behind the arc compared to the Pioneers 0-4.     

For much of the second half, the Jayhawks and Pioneers continued to exchange baskets and the score differential hovered around 22 points until the 5:41 mark.  A steal and bucket by Jon Swift followed up by two straight baskets by Jovon Thomason cut the lead to 76-61.  A Virgil Walker layup, and another jump shot by Thomason brought the deficit to 76-65 with 2:15 left.  The Pioneers were then forced to foul and the Jayhawks made several clutch free throws down the stretch and secured the fourteen point victory.     

"We got a lot of good looks tonight but the shots just didn't go in," said head coach Carlos McMath.  "In the first half, we went on a long scoring drought and that proved to be the difference in the game."    

The Pioneers had four guys in double figures.  They were led by Trey Newsham with 20 points.  Virgil Walker had 18 points and 7 rebounds.  Jon Swift added 12 points, 5 assists, and 4 steals.  Jovon Thomason came off the bench and had 12 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals.    

"It was very encouraging to see our guys fight hard and battle back in the second half," said McMath.  "Our next challenge is to fine tune our game plan for the conference season.  We have a lot of great film to analyze and critique and that will prove beneficial for our guys. "

The Delta Men's basketball team (4-4) will begin the MCCAA East Conference season on January 4^th when they play host to Alpena Community College.  Game time is 7:30 at Pioneer Gymnasium.