After his strong finish to his junior year after welcoming him into the program from Davenport, Iowa, Metea Valley’s expectations for Dei’Ron Delarosa as a senior were high.
With the regular season and his time in Aurora winding down Delarosa wants to make the most of it.
On Tuesday night on the road against Waubonsie Valley, he got a chance to show it.
Delarosa’s game-high 15 points helped Metea Valley brake open a close game early on its way to securing a 68-42 DuPage Valley Conference victory over the Warriors.
“This year, I was kind of easing my way in through the beginning of the season,” Delarosa said. “And later on through the season, we all got together and they picked me up during practice and we just kept on moving. Then I found my rhythm through the practice and just took it to the court.“
His three-pointer to close out the third quarter pushed the lead to 16 for the Mustangs (11-14, 6-7), who converted on six three-pointers and three conventional three-point plays.
“That’s kind of what we saw last year,” Metea Valley coach Bob Vozza said of Delarosa, who’s averaging 7.6 points after three straight double-digit scoring games. “We expected a lot out of him. He’s been fighting to get there, but he definitely played well (Tuesday).”
For much of the first half, the game was nip-and-tuck as the two teams combined for six ties and six lead changes.
Tristan Schlosser had all nine of his points for Metea Valley during the first half, highlighted by a personal 6-0 run to end the half.
Schlosser’s productivity to close out the half turned a 24-22 Mustangs’ lead into a 30-22 advantage going into the locker room at halftime.
From there, Metea Valley opened up the second half on a 13-6 run to create a 15-point bulge late in the third.
“It was good, just spreading the lead out a little bit,” Schlosser said. “We were emphasizing building on this lead that we already had. So once we did that, I made a few shots. Some shots were falling and from there, it just took off. Dei’Ron was hitting threes and we were playing fast.”
With 11 points, sophomore Malik Hall was the lone other Mustang to score in double figures while Montrell Oliver and Jayden Reed added eight points each.
The young Warriors (4-18, 0-13) saw 11 players score with Luke Gregorio, A.J. Hardaway and Eric Cannon leading the way with six points apiece.
Waubonsie Valley coach Chaz Taft is preaching one thing to his team, which has lost nine games in a row.
“We just weren’t getting back in transition,” he said. “They got too many fast break points on us, just getting back. And the speed of the game for some of our freshmen that were out there, we just got to get better at that (Wednesday) in practice.
“We have three freshmen, two sophomores (up). … Obviously, it’s a process with the young kids. It’s keeping their spirits up. It’s making sure they’re playing hard every day in practice and then it translates over to the game.
“And then when they get into the game, the game’s going 50 miles an hour past them in their head. So they got to slow the game down, have slow mind but still have fast feet. So that’s one of the biggest things that we’re trying to teach those guys. They just got to slow everything down in their mind.”
