Taking a trip into hostile territory turned out to be fatal for the boys basketball team last Friday, ending in a 46-60 loss.
The team was hot coming out of winter break defeating three teams back to back, including a victory against the Sabercats, boosting the team’s ambitions for the season. However, last week the team suffered a tough defeat in the season’s second game against Fossil Ridge.
The first quarter was nearly scoreless for the team, ending with only six points scored to Fossil Ridge’s 17. The second quarter was much closer, ending 13-15. Coming out of half time, the Wizards outscored the Sabercats 13-12 and went into the fourth quarter hot, but the boost wasn’t enough to secure the comeback, ending the fourth 14-16 and the game 46-60.
John Backhaus (12) said, “The second time around is a different story than the first time …. I just feel like we didn’t come out like we wanted to, and then we just couldn’t get over the hump the rest of the game.”
This “hump” affected the Wizards the rest of the game with the score deficit never going below six points, despite several unanswered runs that hinted at a possible comeback toward the end of the game.
Coach Jon Rakiecki (staff) said, “We had a chance to kind of be in the driver’s seat for the league championship … Friday night, big crowd; exciting atmosphere to play in. I think we played on our heels. We were a little timid and and they were the aggressor.”
Tadese Keyworth (12) was one of the players who continued to have a spark of fight throughout the game, working hard on defense and offense alike: “I would say Tadese stepped up, he made some shots and had some good three-point plays,” Rakiecki said. Keyworth said, “I had to get more aggressive on the defense side, try and, uh, create more defense from the offense.”
Despite a disappointing result, the combined student sections of both schools provided for an electric environment. Despite being the visitors, the Windsor student section showed out by sporting their whiteout theme.
For the team and the fans alike, the future of the season still looks bright. The Wizards still have a chance at the conference championship but with some implications: win the rest of their games and hope Fossil Ridge loses one of their remaining games.
Backhaus said, “Well, one of our goals was conference and it makes it a lot harder to win now that we lost to Fossil …. but then after conference, one game at a time in playoffs and try to get back to the championship game.”
Much of the team shares Backhaus’ sentiment and feels strongly about their chances despite their performance in the second game of this series, but the future looks bright for the team.
The team will finish out the season with three more conference games, with the final one away against Loveland High School on Feb. 20.
