After a greatly fought game, the JV boys’ basketball team destroyed the Stony Point Tigers with a final score of 55-45. Though most Warriors thought that the Tigers were strong opponents, they were able to rise above and hold a great advantage throughout their game, on Tuesday, Jan. 9.

“We thought that they were okay because they had one guy that could dunk, but after the first quarter and after we played a little bit, we didn’t think [that] they were that good,” Justin Chen ‘20 said.

As an improvement from their previous game, the Warriors incorporated several defensive strategies in order to boost their game.

“I think mainly what we did was that we played a lot more aggressive,” Dylan Granger ‘19 said. “Last game it wasn’t as aggressive and we weren’t attacking as much. We scrapped a lot, played a lot more aggressive, and we got a lot more rebounds [this game].

Before both teams were really involved in the game, the Warriors and the Tigers fought neck and neck, throughout the first quarter. Though they were close, the Warriors slightly fell behind at the end of the quarter and with a score of 12-14.

“The first quarter we were shaking up a little bit. We were nervous when we came out,” Chen said.

To gain a lead against the Tigers, JV boys’ basketball coach Stephen Cobb helped the team with a few strategies as well as encouraged them to get back in the game.

“Coach talked to us and he basically gave us a motivation speech,” Chen said. “He gave us energy, his energy and that allowed us to make the in-and-out threes that made us get the lead.”

With determination and better defense, the team was able to limit frequent turnovers and score more baskets, allowing them to wear out the Tigers. After working hard to get the lead, the Warriors reached halftime, with a score of 29-23.

“I really think it was our defense. Our defense got a lot better,” Granger said. “We [also] started hitting a lot more shorts. It wasn’t much. It was pretty simple.”

Though they entered the third quarter with a significant lead, the Warriors found the Tigers’ frequent steals  troublesome as their opponents were able to slowly climb onto the Warriors’ advantage. As they cranked down on the problem, the Warriors barely managed to hold off their advantage, resulting in a score of 40-39.

“We didn’t have much time to get shots off during half time and we came out nervous, but we came out as beasts afterwords,” Chen said.

Desperate to regain their large lead, the Warriors fought to better their game in all ways possible. Through correcting their previous slip ups during the game, they were able to find a way to guarantee a win. With all of this energy, the Warriors crushed the Tigers 55-45.

“It was a physical game. We played more physical than them when it really counted,” Demetrius Jones ‘19 said. “[We had] energy once again, hit some really good shots, and just played.”

To refine their skills for the following game, the team will be working on ways to improve, based on this game’s errors.

“Mainly we were just driving in recklessly, we had our heads down, and we just couldn’t take care of the ball,” Chen said “[To improve] we can space out more, draw defenders out, can drive harder, look up, and play our best.”

Join the Warriors at Round Rock High School on Friday, Jan. 12, to watch the team take on the Dragons. The game will begin at 5:30 p.m..