Sports Editor
Both the junior varsity and varsity boys’ basketball teams are having exemplary seasons, ranking near the top of their respective leagues. The LGHS Boys’ Varsity team has been incredibly successful, coming off last season’s Division 1 Central Coast Section (CCS) Championship win. They have a robust record of 17-5 and a league record of 8-3, putting them third overall in the De Anza league. Playing Gunn on their senior night, the varsity team kept their blazing six-game win streak going strong into the remainder of the season. The team previously defeated Gunn 76-58 on Jan. 22. Alongside this win, the varsity team secured victories against the top seven schools like Wilcox, Mountain View, and Los Altos. Varsity hopes to avenge losses against the first and second seeds in the De Anza league, Milpitas and Palo Alto, in upcoming games.
Senior player Osha Moloney remarked “We’re having a pretty strong season. We kind of went off to a rough start at our home games, losing to Mountain View, Palo Alto, and Milpitas. Our game plan has been to just come back stronger and regroup as a team.” This season, the team is focusing on its collaboration as Moloney comments, “We lost a lot of experienced players last year. So building team chemistry [is a priority] with the new group we have. It’s been kind of a change in dynamic.” As reigning CCS champions, the team has a very high mountain to climb. Moloney added, “Every team we play, we have a target on the back of our jerseys, and it is motivational.” Junior Ryu Iijima, a shooting guard on the varsity team, noted improvements over last season, and said, “We get along a lot better as a team. We do team bonding a lot, and that’s really fun.”
The JV team has made notable strides with a 16-5 overall record and a 6-3 league record. JV continued their five-game winning streak by beating Gunn, also on senior night. The team avenged their earlier loss to Gunn by 68-70 from the away game on Jan. 22. Alongside Gunn, the JV team has grabbed victories against productive teams such as Terra Nova, Los Altos, Westmont, Mountain View, and Willow Glen. The JV squad has only incurred losses from Milpitas, Gunn, and Palo Alto.
On the team’s success, Lucas Liu, a sophomore and JV’s starting forward, said, “The season’s been going well…our chemistry is improving. At first, it was a bit off, but now we’re all friends.” Liu added, “We’re working on building even more chemistry. Sometimes we get too selfish when driving to the basket and miss open teammates, especially those in the corner. We’re aiming to improve that.”
Both Varsity and JV ended league play with 8-3 records. Make sure to come out and support the Varsity team in the post-season! Go Wildcats!
(Source: MaxPreps)