On Tuesday, Nov. 29 the JV boys’ basketball took on the Vandegrift Vipers. The Warriors seemed evenly matched with the Vipers, but were unable to win in the end.

The first quarter started well with scoring from Ashton Theimer ‘19 and successful rebounds of missed shots by Mason Flood ‘19. The teams played on, but with 3 minutes 58 seconds left in the quarter, the school’s fire alarm went off. Even though it was a false alarm caused by the construction on the school, the crowd and players evacuated the gym. Luckily, the alarm turned off in a few minutes and the game was able to continue as planned. The Warriors ended the first quarter behind 8-13.

“The fire alarm was pretty funny,” Patrick Sladek ‘19 said. “But it threw off our momentum as a team.”

Going into the second quarter, point guard Sladek struggled to get past the Vipers’ defense, but quick movements from his teammates allowed them to move the ball down the court. Both teams had few fouls this quarter resulting in less free throws, so scoring remained low throughout. However, after a foul caused by Vandegrift, Luke Durham ‘19 was able to make two free throws, but the Warriors were still down 14-17 at the end of the first half.

The boys came back into the game after halftime with renewed energy and remained tough on defense. There were multiple fouls called this quarter which allowed Theimer and Sladek to score on three free throws. In the last two minutes of the third, Brandon Kothlow ‘18 was able to score a three-pointer.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter the Warriors’ defense began to slip allowing the Vipers to score from multiple shots. Corey Levinson ‘19 was the only Warrior that scored this quarter. After a timeout called by the Warriors, the boys’ defense improved, but in the end the Warriors lost 24-39.

“The other team was playing much more physical than us and that really won the game,” Sam Helwig ‘19 said. “The score didn’t really reflect how the game went in my opinion.”

The JV boys’ basketball will play next in the Pflugerville Tournament on Dec. 8 through Dec.10 and will take on Leander in their next home game on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 11:30 a.m. Go Wood.