Dec. 6, 2022
By Julian Cruz
Staff Writer
The junior varsity basketball team will start its season today, Dec. 6, with an away scrimmage against Fort Lee High School. It will kick off its regular season on Dec. 15 with a home game against Garfield High School.
Sophomore Dorjee Lama said he and his team are pumped for this season and hoping to be a force to be reckoned with. He said he is optimistic about the season.
“Our team has so much talent and even more than last year,” Lama said. “Even though we haven’t had much practice, we have shown how hard we can work and how dedicated we are to the team.”
While the roster is similar compared to last year, he said the few changes will make a big difference.
“It’s not just the talent that separates us from other teams, but it is also the experience we have as a team. It is not guaranteed that we will have a great start and end to the season, but I will say that we have good odds,” Lama said.
“Even though we haven’t had much practice, we have shown how hard we can work and how dedicated we are to the team.”
Sophomore Andrew Carrion said it is less important to him where the team starts; he just wants to see progress during the season.
“I am really hoping that we can pull it together when it counts, even though we only had a couple [of] additions to last year’s team it still changes the whole dynamic of the team,” Carrion said.
He said to be a winning team, the players need to have confidence and dedication.
“We need dedication so we can all be on the same page on the court when it comes to play and just knowing how to communicate with each other. We also need confidence so we can have the ability to win. Without confidence, you’re bound to lose because you’re already assuming bad things to happen.”
Junior Jonathan Magalias said the team needs to harness their strength and work on finishing because, while the players are not physically as big as their competitors, they have a lot of strength.
“Thankfully, we all know how to finish at the basket and get through the defenders with pure strength,” Magalias said.
He said he wants his team to be successful without being selfish.
“I just want for us to move the ball around and also get the best shots possible rather than putting up a shot that doesn’t have a good chance of going in,” Magalias said. “Of course, you can’t please everyone on the team, but you can at least try.”
