Old habits die hard for the DVC basketball team, as they lost another heartbreaker 57-58 to Yuba on Feb. 27, in the first round of the Northern California state playoffs.
The game was just another chapter in the tale of the entire season for the Vikings who, with the one-point loss, dropped to 0-8 on the year in games decided by three points or less.
Despite being down by as much as 14 points in the second half, the Vikings clawed back, cutting the lead to two and eventually taking the lead 57-56 on a free throw by Benji Arvizu with 37 seconds left to play.
After missing the second free throw, Yuba collected the rebound and called timeout.
Yuba scored quickly after leading scorer Tyler Monroe hit a tough shot inside, giving Yuba the lead with a little over 14 seconds to play.
After a DVC timeout, the Vikings ran a play for Gary Pinkney to get to the basket, only to find it well guarded.
Pinkney got to the basket during the final seconds but his shot was blocked in the lane as time expired.
“The one thing I’ll say about this group is that they competed all year long and had many comebacks,” said Coach Steve Coccimiglio. “But the old saying is, ‘It’s one thing to come back; it’s another to win,’ and that was never more true of DVC this year.”
The loss marks the third year in a row the Vikings have failed to get out of the first round of the Northern California playoffs, and the second year in a row the Vikings have lost a playoff game by one or two points.
DVC started off the game very sluggish and sloppy, throwing the ball away and getting empty possessions.
“During the game we just didn’t have our heads straight,” said Arvizu. “Really little mistakes here and there in the first half cost us in the long run.”
The lackluster performance resulted in the Vikings only being down by nine at halftime 28-19, which was fortunate for DVC.
“[We had] 16 turnovers,” said Coccimiglio. “We literally just melted down. I think they were just intimidated.”
The Vikings’ season finished with a 19-12 record and a second-place finish in the Big 8 conference, snapping their streak of six straight conference titles and 15 straight 20-win seasons.
But DVC has a core group of players returning, including starters Dan Daviess and All-Conference selection Arvizu, as well as key reserve Brandon Thomas.
The Vikings will also get Brandon May back. May was an integral part of the 2007-2008 Vikings team, but wasn’t academically eligible for this season.
“We look forward to making next season a great season,” said Arvizu “and look forward to cleaning up what we couldn’t this season.”
Though there are several question marks going into next season, one is who will replace sophomore point guard and All-Conference selection Gary Pinkney.
“He really took on a lot of responsibility,” said Coccimiglio. “He wasn’t always the greatest decision-maker as a point guard, but he had toughness to him.”
Another is what starting center Jordan Fillmore will elect to do about his basketball career.
Fillmore has received offers from a couple Division II schools, Coccimiglio said.
He could elect to take those offers and leave DVC after one year, or he could stay for another year and try to get attention and offers from some Division I schools.
If Fillmore were to return he would give them three-fifths their starting lineup back from this year’s team, along with Thomas and May, which would be a nice core to recruit around.
But without Fillmore the Vikings would be left with a hole in their frontcourt, losing both starters Fillmore and Anthony Turner.
“I want to bring in some athletic guys that can really rebound,” Coccimiglio said. “If we can match that up with our guard play, and we get some length and rebounding ability, then we’d be pretty good.”