On Friday, Jan. 16, JV Boys Basketball faced off against the Vista Ridge Rangers. The Warriors fast-paced playing style paired with their teamwork ensured their success with a win of 45-23. 

“The toughest challenge I faced during the last game was kind of working together on offense and moving the ball around and scoring,” Max Romero ‘27 said.

Entering the court during the first quarter, both the Warriors and the Rangers were determined to secure the win. To create an offensive advantage the Rangers focused on overhead passes to break through the Warrior’s defense. Bryan Li ‘28 combated this by incorporating the Ranger’s passing style on the Warriors end of the court. The Warriors positioned themselves in the lead at 8-5 by dominating the Rangers in rebounds under the rim.  With just under two minutes left, the Warriors found a sudden burst in effort and began piling on points to end the first quarter at 13-5.

“[My mindset during the game was] locked in,” Alex Page ‘28 said.  “I played some good defense.”

Rolling back into the court, the Rangers quickly scored the first point putting the score at 16-6. Not far beyond, Romero  matched the Rangers point with a nifty three point shot, expanding the Warriors lead. The Rangers slowly attempted to close the point deficit between them and the Warriors by concentrating on more intricate passes. With both teams prioritizing excessive scoring, the pace of the game began to speed up, and with this the Rangers were able to catch up, now only trailing by four at 22-18 going into halftime.

“I did [feel the momentum change] in about the third quarter,” Page said. “[The momentum changed] offensively, defensively, just during the drive.”

Back from halftime, the Warriors started off by locking down a steal that led to a layup. The Rangers began streatching the court by spreading out their passes to help disrupt the Warriors’ defense. The Warriors responded by increasing their defensivepressure to frazzle the Rangers, sophomores Khalil Alexander and Alex Page began to come up with some big shots for the Warriors, quickly advancing the score to 31-18. The Warriors helped maximize their offense by focusing on team-oriented plays, Charlie King ‘27 flew the ball crosscourt on an assist to Joseph Bibbo ‘27, who then scored a three-point shot leaving the score at 39-20.

“[ I was able to read the defense by ]I guess just moving the ball around, cause, I mean, the more you pass, the more people are going to be open,” Romero said.

As the final minutes approached, the Warriors continued their scoring streak. The Rangers still played fiercely, scoring a three-point shot in the last two minutes, however they did not light up their offense in time to surpass the Warriors fierce scoring style. Despite the Rangers efforts, the Warriors triumphed over the Rangers with a final score of 45-23.

“[anything you’re going to take with you from the last game into this next game tonight] I think we played really good defense as a team,” Romero said. “ So I guess just carry that into the next one.”

The JV boys basketball team will play two games this week, one against the McNeil Mavericks on Tuesday Jan. 20, and another against Cedar Ridge Raiders.