Despite a huge comeback in the second half, the varsity boys were defeated by Div. 1 Highlands High School, 54-62, on Dec. 22.
The Cavs had only six playable team members because starters sophomore Jayce McCain and junior Adam Dean did not play due to injuries.
Highlands came out very strong in the first quarter, making a 3-pointer in the first few seconds and eventually gaining a huge advantage and large lead. The Cavs had trouble making shots around the other team’s tall defenders.
The score was 6-15 going into the second quarter.
Right off the bat, Highlands continued to make more shots than the Cavs, and one of their players, J. Harvey, even dunked twice. The game grew more and more aggressive on both sides. Both teams were very physical. The crowd started to get rowdy and even yelled at the referees to call more fouls.
Towards the end of the half, the Cavs started to get some momentum, made a few shots and started to press. The half finished with a score of 18-32.
In the second half, the Cavs were a completely different team. Sophomore B.J. Askew scored 10 points during a third-quarter run and led the team in scoring for the night with 23 points. At one point, after Askew was fouled, a timeout was called by the Cavs, and both coaches could be heard yelling loudly at their teams.
Following this timeout, teams began to play even more aggressively, resulting in a foul called on Highlands at the buzzer, in which both teams had to exit the game except for sophomore Cole Johnson who was fouled and sank two free throws. This shortened the Scots’ lead and made the score 39-50 going into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was very close. Possession of the ball went back and forth very quickly due to lots of blocks and steals from both teams. In the last few minutes, both were in the bonus, Harvey had dunked three times, and the Scots’ lead had shrunk to a mere three, but the Cavs could not pull through.
Cheers echoed from the crowd up until the final second, and at the end there was a burst of applause from the audience.
“We played hard the second half and did the best we could with the few players we had,” said student assistant coach Miles Edwards.
“If we had played good defense the entire game and had our full team, we could have easily beat them.”
The boys’ next game is against Desert Pines High School from Nevada at Rancho Mirage High School in Riverside County, Calif., on Dec. 26 at 5:15 p.m.
—By Alexa Mathisen
