The De Anza Dons pushed their score all the way to 62 on Wednesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They opened the new year with a less-than-successful 69-62 defeat to Bethel. De Anza has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Ahmari Otis and Christopher Smith certainly did their best on Wednesday to try and avoid the loss. Otis scored 22 points, while Smith scored 19 points. Otis scored a full 35.5% of De Anza's points, the fourth time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jacari Madison, who scored nine points.
Bethel got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was H. Howard out in front who scored 21 points along with six assists and five steals. That makes it three consecutive games in which Howard has scored at least 25% of Bethel's points. D. Brown was another key contributor, scoring 20 points along with six rebounds and five assists.
De Anza has not been sharp recently, as they've lost six of their last seven games, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-7 record this season. As for Bethel, they now have a winning record of 6-5.
Both squads are looking forward to the support of their home crowds in their upcoming games. De Anza won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against Vallejo at 7:00 p.m. on January 4th. Vallejo is hoping to put an end to a three-game streak of away losses. Bethel won't have much time to rest: their next contest is against Swett at 7:00 p.m. on January 4th. Swett will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps California Rankings (they are ranked 1083rd, while Bethel is ranked 408th).