Mesa Community College men’s basketball finish season short of playoffs
The Mesa Community College men’s basketball team concluded the second season under head coach Lester Neal at 7-21 overall and 5-17 in conference.
The tumultuous season ends with disappointment, but variables such as injuries, player departures, and roster construction all contributed to the final record.
“We had a lot of injuries, the team that we ended up with is not the team that I put together. We lost like seven guys, some of those seven I had expectations for,” said head coach Lester Neal.
Neal was clear in saying the adversity is no excuse for the underwhelming end result.
“I have to be honest with you, in regards to this season, this season was a disappointment,” said Neal. “I have to own that and I have to take that disappointment and let it fuel me,” the coach added.
Two stretches of play proved to be too much for the team’s record to bear, as the Thunderbirds went through two separate losing streaks of ten games and six games.
According to Neal, one of the biggest opportunities for growth came against Yavapai College on Dec. 16, a game where the Thunderbirds took a 10 point lead into halftime before conceding 59 points in the second half en route to a 92-89 defeat.
The game began what ultimately turned into the longest losing streak of the season at 10 games, but also provided the team an opportunity to strengthen their mental toughness, according to Neal.
“Connectivity during that time is very important. During a losing streak, you tend to get down and you tend to question yourself, you tend to question your coaching staff, your teammates. So it’s very important during that time that we wanted to make sure that we stay invested, stay engaged and stay connected,” said Neal.
The team finished the season 1-4 in one score games, as well as 3-7 in games decided by 10 points or less, another test of the team’s connectivity.
Sophomores Lual Lual and Orlando Gonzales eclipsed 500 career points on the year, as not all went awry during the season.
Lual became the 9th player to achieve the feat in the last 11 years, and Gonzales became the 10th in the same span, according to the MCC athletics department.
Gonzales’ production was among the silver linings of the season, as he was asked to be more productive for the team in an attempt to mitigate the challenges of the roster construction given the injuries and player departures, according to Neal.
“It was all about unlocking Orlando. He made things so much easier for everyone else because he was able to be on the ball [and] take a lot of pressure off our freshman point guard. His offensive production made things easier for the other players like Lual and Pearse and Mason. His leadership being a sophomore, being a captain and being steady made things easier for everyone,” said Neal, when talking about what strategic changes were made during the season.
Neal has already begun constructing a plan of attack for how to make the 2024-2025 season more successful than 2023-2024.
“You look at the landscape, even with the division ones, you have to be able to have size. So my template, I would be foolish not to be able to want to model what Pima has done, what Cochise has done, you know what some of the top teams have done. But I’ve always known that to be able to have size will be key to any program,” said Neal.
Improving the depth of the roster is also of high priority, according to Neal.
“I think we need to have a solid one through 15, so we could be better prepared in case injuries happen, or if guys need to redshirt for whatever reason,” said Neal. The program will have a month off before resuming basketball activities in the offseason. According to Neal, student-athletes were told to focus on academics until after the DII Final Four concludes on March 23.
