A chance at a second-place finish in the Big 8 Conference and a home playoff game slipped through DVC’s fingers Tuesday night, as the Vikings lost a heartbreaker 64-61 to Cosumnes River. DVC had its chances late, but couldn’t put in any easy baskets. The Vikings also had trouble getting back on defense. Three times in the last three minutes, Cosumnes took the ball coast-to-coast, beating every Vikings player down the court to score. “We missed a lot of opportunities,” said Coach Steve Coccimiglio. The game was, in a nutshell, the kind of struggles we’ve had all year.” DVC led by one with more than a minute to go in the game but was unable to put away Cosumnes. The Vikings had the ball with 24.8 seconds to go, down by one, with a chance to win the game. But they couldn’t get a decent shot and had to settle for a three-point attempt by Gary Pinkney that missed long. After two free throws by Cosumnes put them up by three, the Vikings still had a chance to tie, but a missed three by Benji Arvizu spelled the end for DVC. “It was very disappointing, but we are 0-8 in games decided by four points or less,” Coccimiglio said. “We were 0-7 before this game, and this game was the blueprint of every big game we’ve played this year.” Anthony Turner led the Vikings in scoring with 16 points, while the only other Viking in double figures was Pinkney who had 12. DVC started off the game quickly; exploiting Cosumnes’ weak man-to-man defense and springing out to a 10-2 lead that forced a Cosumnes timeout. Starting the second half, Cosumnes switched up its defense to a 2-3 zone, which hampered the Viking offense. DVC had the lead throughout the game, extending it to as much as nine late in the second half. Cosumnes kept the pressure on, keeping pace with the Vikings and eventually chipping the lead down to four with eight minutes and change to go. DVC’s Pinkney was called for his fourth foul on a questionable call late in the second half which incensed the DVC bench and took away the momentum from the Vikes. With the loss, the team dropped to third place in the Big 8 and will need to win the season finale against Sacramento City on Friday to get into the state playoffs.