The 10-5 boys’ varsity basketball team lost 60-55 to the 8-6 St. Mary’s Rams of Stockton on the afternoon of January 7.

According to senior captain Tom Caprio, focus and readiness to play has been an issue for the Cougars all season.

Early on, the Cougars appeared to have put those struggles behind them, out scoring their opponents 26 to 14 in the 1st quarter. Junior guard John Torchio came off the bench and immediately made an impact with 9 points and solid defense.

Unfortunately for the Cougars, this trend fell apart in the 2nd quarter. “We started getting sloppy with the ball and did not come into it ready to play,” said sophomore shooting guard Jake Chan. They scored just 6 points while giving up 21 to hand over the lead to the Rams at the half, 35-32.

The 3rd quarter was a defensive battle.”Coming out of halftime, we knew we were going to have to play much better than the 2nd quarter to get back into the game,” said Chan. Campolindo allowed just 15 points, but still trailed St. Mary’s by 6 heading into the final period.

At the beginning of the 4th, the Cougars narrowed the gap to 4 points.  Ram’s coach Kenneth Green then called a timeout to slow the momentum. After the break the Rams scored 19 points, pulling away to secure their win.