PIONEERS GET ANOTHER WIN ON ROAD AND MOVE UP TO #13 IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS

Benton Harbor, MI-

The Delta College Men's basketball team continued their early season dominance with a big road win over the Lake Michigan Community College Redhawks 100-85.  Not only did the win keep the Pioneers undefeated at 7-0 but it moved them up three slots in the national rankings from number sixteen to number thirteen.        

The first several minutes of the game saw a lot of up and down action as both teams traded transition baskets.  At the thirteen minute mark, back to back buckets by Martel Handley gave the Pioneers a 20-15 lead.  The Pioneers then began to control the tempo and found success with their half-court offense. A pass from Torandis Mack found Virgil Walker for a lay-up and the Pioneers pushed their lead to 29-17 with ten minutes to play in the half.   A Cedric Moten three pointer followed up by a put back by Peyton Miller and a jump shot by Leonte Parker gave the Pioneers their largest lead of the half at 44-28. 

The Redhawks came out of the locker room with a sense of urgency and cut the Pioneer lead down to twelve, 62-50, with thirteen minutes remaining.  After a timeout, the Delta men regrouped and got back to playing suffocating defense and focused on executing in the half-court.  A Torandis Mack floater and a three pointer by Peyton Miller got the Pioneers back on track and over the course of the next eight minutes, Delta outscored Lake Michigan 32-17 and took a commanding 94-67 lead.  The last five minutes of the game were controlled by the Redhawks but the closest they would get was fifteen points.     

Sophomore big man Virgil Walker Jr. had a game high 28 points, 17 rebounds, and 4 blocks.  Martel Handley had 19 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals.  Torandis Mack added 14 points and 6 assists.  Peyton Miller and Leonte Parker came off the Pioneer bench to add valuable minutes and give the Pioneers the boost they needed to secure the victory.  Miller had 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.  Parker added 12 points.     

"It was nice to get another road win against a quality opponent," said Head Coach Carlos McMath.  "We had some stretches where we didn't execute well on the offensive end and I wasn't very happy with how we finished the game.  We need to continue to learn to finish games and execute for the full forty minutes."

The Pioneer men will look to finish off an undefeated pre-conference season Thursday night when they host Muskegon Community College.  Muskegon is coming off a tough overtime loss to Owens Community College.  Game time is 5:00 at Pioneer Gymnasium.