Delta Men Keep It Rolling

University Center, MI-

The last time the Delta College men's basketball team beat the Lansing Community College Stars was in the 2009-2010 season.  Over the course of the past seven seasons the Pioneers have had some close battles with the Stars but hadn't found the win column.  Friday night the Pioneers were looking to get over that hump and flip the script on the Lansing and Delta rivalry.     

In the first two minutes of the game, the Pioneers set the tone and played with relentless intensity.   An alley-oop dunk by Jalen Fykes put the Pioneers up 10-0 and forced Lansing to call a time-out.  The Stars battled back and at the ten minute mark of the first half, the Delta lead was 24-17.  Two Virgil Walker Jr. put backs and two three pointers by Cedric Moten fueled a 16-6 Pioneer run giving the home team a 40-23 lead with 6:30 left in the half.  The remainder of the half would go back and forth and Delta would take a 55-42 lead into the locker room. 

"In the first half we came out extremely active on both ends of the court," said Pioneer head coach Carlos McMath.  "We controlled the tempo and dominated the offensive glass."

The Pioneers began the second half the same way they started the game and in the first two minutes expanded their lead to 64-42.  A Deon Gray three point play capped off a 9-0 run for the Pioneers and gave the Delta men a 22 point lead.  Midway through the second half, a Jalen Fykes steal and slam dunk pushed the Delta lead to 30 points.  Down the stretch, the Stars would have no answer for the Pioneers and Delta cruised to a 110-78 victory.     

On the night, the Pioneers would have six men in double figures.  Leading the way was sophomore guard Cedric Moten with 22 points.  Torandis Mack added 17 points and 5 assists.  Martel Handley had 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.  Virgil Walker Jr. had his best all-around game of the year finishing with 14 points and 13 rebounds.  Peyton Miller had 14 points and was a perfect 6-6 from the floor.  Jordan Martinus added 11 points.

"Tonight was a statement game for our program," said McMath.  "We have a lot of respect for Coach Ingram and his Lansing program so it was nice to finally come out on top.  In recent years we haven't had the best success and gotten the results we wanted in our non-conference games.  As a coaching staff, we challenge our guys to trust the process and keep getting better by focusing on the small things.  We need to continue working hard and turn our focus to our next opponent. "

The Pioneer men are off to their best start in over a decade.  They will look to remain undefeated and push their winning streak to seven games when they travel to Lake Michigan Community College on December 9th.  The Redhawks are coming off a tough road loss to Schoolcraft and currently have a record of 4-3.  Game time is 3:00 at Redhawk Gymnasium.