This past season, the players of the men’s basketball team showed their willingness to compete and never give up to finish the season 14-14 overall and 5-7 in conference play.

The season ended on Feb. 20 with a 100-89 loss at Bakersfield. The team was also on the bubble, meaning that they had a chance of making the playoffs depending on the performances of other teams. They were one of the last teams to be eliminated from the postseason. The state takes the top 20 teams and they were ranked number 21.

“I was disappointed for my players that they didn’t get a chance to experience the playoffs. But we can look at ourselves in the mirror and say that we gave it our best shot,” said Head Coach Brian Beauchemin, who finished his 31st season at Glendale College.

The Vaqueros also lost four close games to tough teams in their conference. Glendale lost by two points to Citrus at home which was the second overall ranked team and lost by two points to West Los Angeles. But they showed their ability to never back down and give it their all each and every game. “If we could have won one of those close games we probably would have gotten into the playoffs,” said Beauchemin.

But this season showed the effort of this group of young men. The defining moment for this team was the two point loss against Citrus. “That game showed our determination,” the coach said.

As for individual honors this season, Deonte Wyatt, starting guard/forward was named to the all conference first team by leading the Vaqueros with 15.3 points per game both overall and in conference play. “Deonte was very important for us. He led our team in a number of statistical categories,” said Beauchemin.

Narbeh Ebrahimian, starting guard was also named honorable mention by being the second leading scorer for the Vaqueros with 10.8 points per game overall and 11.5 in conference play. But his coach was more impressed with what he did on the defensive end as well as being an example for his team.

“He exuded aggressive toughness, guarded the opposing teams best player each and every night. He worked hard and he was an example for every other player to work just as hard,” said Beauchemin.

Jose Garcia, sophomore starting point guard was also named honorable mention this past season, leading his team with 4.5 assists per game. Not only was he important for his team’s offense but was also a great leader.
“Garcia is a very tough player, got beat up night in and night out doing the bulk of the ball handling. He is a much defined leader and everyone looked up to him to be that leader,” said Beauchemin.

Besides those three players, Beauchemin was happy with the way his overall team played. “This was a team that played their roles and that’s why we had success. Everybody had the ability to accept their roles and play as a team,” he said.

As for next season everyone is looking to improve and help the team. “As a team we have to show up to practice every day give 100 percent so that we can get better every day,” said Ebrahimian.

Beauchemin is also looking to improve his team in different ways. “We want to improve. Our objective as a coaching staff is to get players that do what we want. We want our players to improve both in basketball and academically,” said Beauchemin.

Although Beauchemin didn’t win as many games as he wanted to this past season he taught his team an important life lesson that went way beyond basketball.

“Never stop competing. Challenges will always be there. Whatever happens always compete,” he said.