Varsity boys basketball lose second league game 62-44 to the Lynbrook Vikings on Jan. 13
As the game-ending buzzer sounded, the familiar chant of "this is our house" filled the gym. But this time, these words echoed from the visiting Vikings’ side as they stomped our very own purple bleachers, proudly cheering for their victorious team in their red shirts and painted-blue faces.
On Jan. 13, the boys varsity basketball team took on their biggest rival, the Lynbrook Vikings, at home for their second league game.
The first quarter started off with a contact foul against the Matadors, allowing the Vikings to steal the first two points of the game. However, senior Jonathan Huang tied up the game by scoring two points for the Matadors.
Though the Vikings successfully slid past the Matadors’ weakening defense and made three free lay-ups, senior Krish Rangarajan managed to score four consecutive baskets to finally steal the lead and made the score 13-12. Senior Kevin Wu fought his way past multiple Viking defenders and delivered a smooth pass to Rangarajan who then swiftly scored a three-pointer. The first quarter ended with the Matadors trailing closely behind the Vikings 17-18.
A few minutes in to the second quarter, Huang scored a freethrow after a contact foul — this time on Lynbrook — to tie the score 18-18.
The Vikings kept pressuring the Matadors up the court, and took advantage of each turnover and foul that the Matadors made. With their defense slipping, the Matadors fell six points behind at 24-18. Towards the end of the second quarter, the Matadors took bold steps in hopes of catching up by attempting multiple three-pointers. However, they fell short and were unable to score as the half ended with a score of 22-32.
Junior David Doi shot a three-pointer to bring the Matadors to a score of 25-32 at the start of the third quarter. Rangarajan and sophomore Mihir Chavan easily made free throws to bring the score to 28-33.
Huang received a long pass from sophomore Andrew Hsu that set him up for a perfect shot, bringing the score to 31-38 with the Matadors slowly catching up. However, the comeback didn’t last long. The Matadors’ poorly executed offense resulted in four consecutive turn-overs, increasing the Vikings the lead to 46-31. This drastic lead prompted coach Matthew Tait to call a timeout in hopes of cleaning up the performance on the court. Chavan and senior Shan Hansra both made their two free-throws, but the team was still down 35-46 with only one more quarter to catch up.
A poor defense left the Matadors trailing the Vikings 35-54 with just six minutes left in the last quarter.
"We turned over the ball too much and we did not rebound enough," Hsu said. "Five [of Lynbrook’s players] were crashing the boards and getting the rebounds. And they just kept scoring—we couldn’t stop them."
Wu juked multiple Viking defenders and delivered a swish layup, bringing the score to 37-55 and also sparking a surge of energy for the team as they attempted to (lessen) the Viking lead. The Matadors stepped up their defense and blocked Viking shots, as they brought the score up to 44-59 with baskets from Chavan, Hansra, and Rangarajan. However, the surge of energy soon turned into pure frustration that worked against them. The Vikings stole the victory in the Matadors’ house with a final score of 62-44.
The varsity boy’s basketball team will face the Lynbrook Vikings once again on Feb. 3. Until then, they will work on cleaning up their defense, executing their plays and decreasing the number of fouls that they make. Their next game will be at Santa Clara High School on Jan. 15.
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