By Rana Aghababazadeh, Sannidhi Menon, Anthony Moll and Jai Uparkar
With the bleachers packed full of MVHS and Lynbrook HS students, the gym was full of energy on Friday, Jan. 12. From the players and the crowds as well, the consistent intensity and drive to win keep the game exciting. The final score was 34 - 59; Lynbrook took the victory.
Senior Zachary Whong said, “Our mindset for this game was to come out with full intensity and to win the game obviously.”
Only three points behind at the end of the first quarter, MVHS was unable to close the gap with LHS, though MVHS scored eight consecutive points at the start of the second. A flurry of three pointers from LHS and multiple missed fastbreaks by MVHS increased their lead and allowed them to pull ahead in the game.
“We were preparing based on the film of them and [we] just focused our heads for the game. Just to keep scoring, to keep the lead, and keep the crowd in it,” senior Kevin Yang.
As MVHS persisted with relentless defense, LHS took more shots from the three-point-line. The matadors were able to create many offensive plays, but they were unable to convert on most of their fastbreaks – a lot of missed opportunities.
Nearing halftime, LHS was up by 10 points with the score at 20-30. They was unable to keep up with the newfound energy that LHS brought to the beginning of the third, but attempted to create opportunities for themselves on the offensive side. Still LHS was dominating; by ending the third, the score was 28-45.
Whong said, “Those scenarios [we prepared for] came up but we just didn’t do a very great job of playing [them].”
The fourth quarter proved to be sign of life for MVHS. With the crowd cheering louder than before, MVHS was able to recover the energy they brought in the beginning of the game to fourth quarter. Within the last couple of minutes, MVHS kept LHS scoreless by scoring four consecutive points to end the game.
For the next game, we are going to have to play less selfish basketball. So we are going to have to pass the ball more, and we are going to have to trust our teammates more. -Senior Zachary Whong