FAIRFIELD – In the first home game since the third-place finish at the Monterey Bay Classic, the Solano Men’s basketball team suffered their seventh loss last night against Cañada College in a lop-sided contest underlined by the final score of 74-43, ultimately a battle ceded by the Falcons.
Coming off rejuvenating wins and a top-three finish in the 35th annual Monterey Bay Classic at Monterey Peninsula College last weekend, Thursday night’s game left the Falcons “disappointed” according to Solano assistant coach Brandon Bracy.
“We had a good weekend in Monterey,” Bracy explained after the game.
“We [were] hoping to put on a good performance in front of our home crowd and to get beat by 30, it’s definitely disappointing.”
The final deficit wasn’t as large as it would grow to by halftime, with the Colts only leading by 15 by the sound of the first half buzzer, but Bracy felt like the team was lethargic from jump-ball onward.
“As soon as the tip off…our energy was down, we had a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes with some of our shot selection,” he admitted.
Bracy also attributes the lack of any type of flow with his squad, and consequently the low team shooting efficiency — 30% from the field collectively — to the lackadaisical nature present in the game from the start.
“We really never were able to find a rhythm,”
Head coach Diego Reyes also shares Bracy’s analysis of his team’s performance last night, expressing frustration because, according to Reyes, his team just had an effort-filled stint this past weekend in Monterey.
“We just came off a stretch where we really dominated, I think, on the effort side. This game, we walked into it feeling like we earned a lack of effort,”
He then gave me an example of the lack of effort he was talking about.
“Like at halftime they had…nine offensive boards, compared to our four,” Reyes explained.
Losing the offensive glass cleaning battle by the end of the half was impactful for coach Reyes because “we’ve been working really hard on that end,”
“[I’m] a little frustrated with the energy and effort more than anything.”
Coach Reyes and Bracy are not the only ones who’re down after following up their performance this past weekend with a loss, as starting freshman guard and Solano College Men’s November Athlete of the Month, Dominick Dennis expressed similar feelings after leaving the team locker room.
“It’s very deflating, man. I think we can still come back and be a great team…it definitely hurts, but we’re gonna bounce back,” he stated.
Dennis believes that to best prevent future outcomes like this, the team and he have to “work harder”.
“We just went out there, showed no effort, and I feel like we have to want it more,” Dennis explained.
When asked how his team can rebound, especially with conference play starting next Tuesday in Mendocino, Dennis wasn’t worried about the details, stating that he knows his club is going to bounce back after the loss.
“As a team, I know we’re very strong,” he exclaimed.
Editor’s Note: The headline of this story has been changed from “Solano Men’s Basketball Drops Home Ballad against Cañada College to Move to Seven Losses on the Season” to “Solano Men’s Basketball Drops Home Contest against Cañada College to Move to Seven Losses on the Season” to better reflect events which occurred.
