Boys’ Hoops Beats Favored Knights

Mikhail Vasilyev, Staff Writer

Boys’ varsity basketball managed to pull off a 62-59 win over Las Lomas on January 31. Junior Will Cummins was the Cougars’ top scorer, totaling 22 points in all.

Coming into the game, Las Lomas was the favorite with a 4-0 record in league. “On paper, Las Lomas was the most talented team in our league, and we knew that we had to play very well in order to beat them,” said head coach Steven Dyer. “But we had a lot of guys step up and play well today and we managed to beat them. I’m pretty proud of my players for doing that.”

At the end of the 1st quarter, Las Lomas held a lead, 13-11. Varsity freshman Carter Mahaney said, “We were losing in the 1st quarter, but that didn’t get us down. We knew [Las Lomas] was a pretty good team, so we held strong and pushed through. Luckily we never gave up – we passed well, we shot well – and we managed to win.”

In the final 15 seconds of the game Las Lomas called 3 timeouts.  The Knights attempted to send the game into overtime with a flurry of 3-point attempts. “It could have been anyone’s game there,” said Dyer. “If they had made [the 3-pointer], it would have been tied. It was extremely tense to watch.”

In spite of the win, the Cougars will continue to have an uphill battle the remainder of their schedule. “We got a really difficult game against Miramonte coming up this Friday. It will be another challenge to us. We just gotta practice and prepare for the game and just take advantage of their weaknesses,” Dyer said. “As for the rest of the season, we’ll just be taking it one game at a time. I know it sounds cliche, but that’s what we’re gonna do and we’re gonna hope to muscle our way through our games.”

Dyer’s squad is 14-7 overall for the season.