Another Loss Pushes Corsairs to Strive for Better Results

With the Corsairs' third consecutive loss in conference play resulting from last Tuesday's away game at L.A. Southwest College, the team is hoping to maintain their composure down the stretches of their games and turn their dry spell into good fortune.

When the Santa Monica College Men's Basketball team visited L.A. Southwest College on Tuesday, Nov. 25, they hoped to win their second road game of the season, but left disappointed with their third loss on the road and a final score of 73-64.

"We're struggling with teams that really extend their defense on us," said Jerome Jenkins, head coach of the men's basketball program at SMC. "The three losses that we had are from teams that have been really extending their defense on us, and we have not been able to adapt to the pressure early in the game."

After a sloppy performance by the Corsairs in the first half, as seen by their eight point deficit leading into halftime, their team play started to show prominence on the court and propelled them to a six point lead with 10 minutes left in the game.

But, as the momentum played like the sixth man on the court earlier in the second half-clearly seen by their hot streak climbing to the top of the scoreboard-came their loss of focus down the stretch of the game, shifting the momentum to favor the Cougars' home court advantage.

Coach Jenkins sees the potential in his team but harps on seizing "the moments that can lead to winning more games in the future." Said Coach Jenkins, "Right now we are trying to win games and win them consistently. We just have to figure out how to be consistent and win games. We make little mistakes that end up turning into one big mistake for the whole game."

Although Coach Jenkins sees his team struggling, he also sees promise in them to get their act together and cover up this hole they've created with more than three-fourths of the season left.

"We may not have shot the ball well this past game, but we still had chances to win the game and I think that's a plus to what we're trying to build here at SMC," said Coach Jenkins. "But the players have been working tremendously hard so far this season and continue to progress in their play as the season continues."

With more than 20 games left in the season, the Corsairs have plenty of time to put all the pieces together and turn their luck around, possibly making the playoffs by season's end.

"When I took this job, I saw it as a growing year [in terms of] laying down the foundation of how I want the program to be and building the program to what I want it to be," said Coach Jenkins.

The Corsairs have three more tournaments left to finish the calendar year before entering conference play in the months of January and February 2009.

Their home opener will be on Saturday, Dec. 6, starting at 7 pm at the SMC Gymnasium against the Oxnard College Condors.