By Dave Campbell Record Correspondent
STOCKTON – The Delta College men's basketball team left Sunday afternoon's action with a win, but not before the Mustangs navigated a series of hurdles to get there.
Tournament host Delta overcame a slow start to build up to a 14-point lead with six minutes left in the game, and then held on thanks to the hot free-throw shooting hand of John Berna down the stretch for an 83-80 win over Merced for the consolation final of the 51st Annual Holiday Tournament at Blanchard Gym.
"I thought our effort wasn't really good the first five minutes," Mustangs coach Rich Ressa said. "Then our defense translated to give us some easy scores when we changed it up defensively and that kind of gave us a spark and got us going in the right direction.
"Berna is a competitor. We want him taking those free throws at the end."
Berna had 16 points, and got the last six for Delta (3-5) from the line, going 6 for 6 in a span of 15 seconds, hitting his last pair with 25 seconds remaining for an 83-77 lead. Cariaun Williams and his 21 points made the score closer than the game with a 3-pointer for the Blue Devils (1-10) as time expired
"I just tried to knock them down and give my team a better chance to win," Berna said. "We had to make sure they didn't even have a chance to force overtime.
"We came out a little soft but eventually we played hard."
Jhordan Mellion led Delta with 17 points, and was part of a 16-for-17 second-half performance from the line for the Mustangs, going 2 for 2 from the free-throw line in the second half.
"We had to execute on offense, buckle down on defense and play the game like we knew how," Mellion said.
Darnell Harris tallied a double-double for Delta, netting 13 points with 11 rebounds.
"I just try to come out and be aggressive," Harris said. "I want to get rebounds and help the team in any way I can."
In addition to letting Merced back in the game late, Delta stumbled out of the blocks and did not take control until late in the first half, outscoring the Blue Devils 23-9 in the final 9 minutes of the first stanza.
"We are working on that," Ressa said. "We are on completing a game and executing the full 40 minutes.
"I think sometimes our intentions are good but our execution needs to match our intentions."
The Mustangs placed two more players in double figures – Jakobi Ford. Jr. with 12 points and Alvin Crenshaw with 10.
For Merced, Kesean Warren joined teammate Williams for high-point honors at 21. Kole Gaglio added 14 points and Chris Roberson had 10.