In their first district game, the JV boys’ basketball team was able to rise above the Mavericks after a hard fought comeback following the second quarter. With the support of the crowd and their coach’s guidance in the last quarters, the team was able to finish off their opponents with a final score of 50-46.

“We knew that McNeil is well matched with us, meaning it would probably be a close game, so we knew we were going to have to play very hard,” Dylan Granger ‘19 said. “We also knew that McNeil isn’t a very fundamentally good team and that they play rough, so our game plan was to play the game fast.”

During the game, the Warriors employed strategies to help get easy steals and turnovers from the Mavericks.

“We prepared for the game by learning a man press because our team is really good [at] pressuring the ball,” Marcos Martinez ‘20 said. “It ended up working really well.”

After the first quarter, the Mavericks were in the lead, making it difficult for the Warriors to rise back up and equalize the score. However, through their determination to win the game, the Warriors were able to fix their tactical problem and rose to a score of 22-27, by the end of the second quarter.

“There were a couple of little things that we were doing wrong in the first half, so during halftime Coach Cobb did a great job of bringing us together and fixing those problems,” Granger said. “The one thing that gave us the comeback was defense and out working McNeil.”

During the third quarter, the Warriors continued to increase their score. Though the Warriors entered the last quarter with a notable advantage, the Mavericks were able to bring themselves closer, creating tension in the game.

“In the fourth quarter, we relaxed on defense and McNeil went on a scoring streak,” Anish Maddipoti ‘20 said. “However, we were able to close out the game through clutch play.”

Towards the end of the game, the score was a few baskets away from a tie. Because of this, Coach Stephen Cobb called timeouts in the last few minutes of play to ensure that the team would end the game with a unified strategy.

“During the last few timeouts, Coach Cobb drew up some inbound plays that helped is keep the ball from the McNeil Team,” Maddipoti said.

Although they won this battle, the Warriors seek to improve their previous mistakes and bring their best to their next game against Stony Point on Tuesday, Jan. 9.

“From this experience, we should keep up our intensity throughout the game as well as take caution with our possessions,” Maddipoti said. “However, we ran our plays to almost perfection, and I believe that we can definitely win our game against Stony Point.”