Varsity Boys Basketball defeated BASIS Independent Silicon Valley 70-54 on Tuesday, Dec. 3, following a strong performance in the second half of the game. Although BISV initially took the lead, both teams battled for dominance, with MVHS edging ahead to finish the first quarter 14-13. Matadors picked up the pace to enter halftime with a score of 34-30. This surge in momentum helped MVHS pull ahead with a 13-point lead to 56-43 by the end of the third quarter, widening that margin for the finish.
As MVHS scored the first point of the game, MVHS and BISV were neck and neck. Aggressive gameplay resulted in five fouls from each team in the first quarter. Sophomore and guard Daniel Ji was fouled twice in the first quarter, though according to Ji, that didn’t affect his performance.
“Getting fouled felt pretty good, because I hit my free throws,” Ji said. “Sometimes those are stressful, but I try not to think about it too much and just shoot.”
The game remained close during the second quarter, with MVHS maintaining a slim advantage. BISV called two timeouts in an attempt to gain control over the game, but multiple turnovers led to several points in quick succession that ultimately widened the Matadors’ lead. After halftime and a pep talk from Head Coach Wade Nakamura, they gradually solidified that advantage. Senior and captain Parth Upadhyay explained that communication and rebounding were major shortcomings in the first half.
“We were just starting to get a little sloppy with our passes and communication,” Upadhyay said. “We were definitely losing it in the late second quarter. Understanding that it’s a home game — that we got to protect our house — gave us another spark after halftime.”
As MVHS returned to the court with renewed energy and focus, they played much more cleanly during the third quarter, making two fouls to BISV’s five. With only around five seconds left on the clock, Ji scored the last points of the third quarter to cement MVHS’ new lead, a moment which he describes as a personal highlight.
BISV struggled to regain momentum despite calling a timeout both in the third and fourth quarters, and frequent fouls ultimately hindered their ability to close the gap, contributing to MVHS’ widening lead.
“Their fouls definitely helped us a little bit, just because they were in foul trouble and close to getting fouled out,” Upadhyay said. “We definitely used that to become aggressive and become a lot more confident.”
In the future, Upadhyay hopes the team can be quicker to apply their coach’s feedback, which in this game included improving their communication, passes and defensive rebounds. Likewise, senior and captain Stanley Du says this game showed that both the team and he individually still have a lot of room for improvement; in his opinion, the 30 points MVHS lost before halftime were the result of the team giving BISV too many easy openings.
“I shot at a decent success rate, because I think I went two for ten last game, so that’s an improvement,” Du said. “But I should get my teammates more involved and shoot it a little better from the mid-range.”
Both Ji and Du are proud of how the team performed overall. In particular, Ji loves the excitement of the game. Though the team has room for improvement, they see this game as a good sign for the rest of the season.
“The game was definitely exciting,” Ji said. “The adrenaline just makes you feel good. We all played together as a team, and we got the win.”
