The Diablo Valley College Vikings men’s basketball team came into their final home game tied for fourth place in the Big 8 with their opponent, the Modesto Pirates.

Modesto would get off to a quick start, scoring majority of the points in the games first minutes. But as the first half continued, the Vikings and Pirates continued to trade baskets, making the rest of the first half a tight game.

“Overall this was a pretty tough season,” said sophomore Jarrell Handley, “we had our ups and downs, but for the most part we stuck together.”

As Handley said, not only was this season full of ups and downs, but so was this game.

After the Vikings slow start, they went into halftime with the Pirates only leading by six points, 28-22.

In the second half the Vikings got off to a strong start, finding the net shot after shot. But that wouldn’t last long with the Pirates continuing to put points on the board increasing their lead.

The Vikings put up a strong fight, cutting into the Pirates’ lead, making the deficit five points with three minutes remaining in the game. But the Pirates pulled away in the final three minutes, scoring five unanswered points to close out the game.

The Vikings fell to the Pirates with the final score of 63-53.

“We had a lot of injuries at the beginning of the season that really hurt us,” said sophomore Will Phillips, “but we made that little run at the end and it still wasn’t enough for us to make the playoffs.”

Now that the season has come to an end, the Vikings are looking forward to a fresh start next season to prove that they can be a dominate force in the Big 8 and make the playoffs.