Boys varsity recovering from a slump

The basketball team is adjusting practices and game play to come out of this season with a winning record

Photo by Gianella Ordonez

The boys varsity basketball team is fighting their way to the top

The boys varsity basketball team is not going down without a fight. With a current record of 3-5 in the De Anza League and 8-12 overall, the team must get a record of 6-6 in their league to qualify for CCS.

The team has five games left in the season, including the last game they played against Mountain View this past Wednesday that resulted in a win.

With the few remaining games left in the season, the boys varsity team have a slim chance of making it to CCS. Given that they are in the De Anza League, which consists of some of the best teams in the area.

Senior captain Joshua Anderson said that initially they thought they were going to be an outstanding team and he said he thinks that they still have a chance to reach that potential.

“The season definitely hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to,” Anderson said. “[However], I definitely think we have the capability of being a great team.”

When the team loses a game and a teammate feels discouraged both Anderson and senior captain Brendan Kane agreed that they have to be the leading voice to uplift their teammates’ spirits so they can do better next game.

However, the team morale has been low, with players not putting 100 percent of their effort into the game because of the initial constant losses, which have now resulted in a narrower chance at qualifying for CCS, Anderson said.

Despite this rocky patch in their season, Kane and Anderson said they are hopeful that the team will pull through and give it their all until it is numerically impossible to continue.

“We are still going to keep fighting everyday,” Anderson said. “I think even though it’s not looking great right now we can definitely turn it around.”

Kane said that the team has been adjusting practices so that they can improve on their offensive and defensive game and do better against these challenging teams.

“If they play a zone defense or a man defense we’ll change and adapt [how we play],” Kane said.

Head coach Shawn Hook said since the team is in their second round of league games they have seen many of the teams before and are confident that they can beat some of the teams that they lost to in close games.

Hook said that with four games left, the varsity team definitely has the capacity to turn this season around. Only three out of their next four games must be won to qualify for CCS, which now seems likely.

“It’s gonna be a hard fight but it’s one that we want and it’s going to be extremely rewarding when we do make CCS,” said Hook. “So I’ll be really happy and proud of [the team].”