Men’s basketball had a strong start to the game but it was the Santa Monica College Corsairs that left Ken Stanley Court victorious by a score of 68-52.
Head coach Casey Weitzel said the team started off well but didn’t stay at that level all game.
“We weren’t on our best, we didn’t rebound, that was evident,” Weitzel said. “We played selfish and when the ball moved we got great looks we got scores, we got offensive rebounds but then the ball didn’t move and then we didn’t do a good job guarding.”
Assistant coach Bruce English said that they didn’t have their heads fully in the game.
“We came out strong, we started a lot better than we finished,” English said. “There was a lack of focus, a lack of attention to detail.”
Guard Anthony McIntyre did not play in the game, leaving the team without their star offensive player. Weitzel chose not to comment when asked why McIntyre was out.
The team struggled to get into an offensive rhythm and although it was a challenge, one of the players who stepped up was guard Christian Guillory.
Weitzel said they did not change their play with McIntyre out, it was a team effort, but Guillory did not go unnoticed.
“We didn’t change anything we did because that’s not our style,” Weitzel said. “We’re a team, it’s a team game and it left opportunity for other people to step up and Christian definitely did step up early. I think he ran out of gas during the final stretch there.”
Guillory said he didn’t change his play style but instead decided the team needed to work together more.
“I did not feel like there was any pressure to step up, I just feel like we had to come together as a team more and just execute what we were being told,” Guillory said.
English said he was proud to see Guillory working hard with McIntyre not in the game.
“Missing Anthony, there is a lot of minutes, a lot of time for guys to step up and fill roles that they usually don’t fill,” English said. “Chris [Guillory] definitely had to play a lot more minutes. He was a little bit more tired than usual, so some of his shots where shorter, some of his passes were a little softer… he was a little bit fatigued but he did well.”
