On Friday, January 30th in the large gym, Rocklin’s varsity boy’s basketball team took Del Oro by storm with a 69-58 victory. This win comes off the heels of three losses, the last one being lost to just one point. This turnaround brings hope for the team and the rest of their season, bringing them to twelve wins and twelve losses overall.
Senior Josiah Andrews, who made many key plays, describes how the last few games affected him and his team, stating, “These past three losses, by like one point, have really, like, we’ve been through adversity, so we’re used to this, but we just came out tonight.” Coach Harter shares a similar perspective, “We’ve been playing really, really well as of late, and we just haven’t climbed over the hump. We finally shot the ball really well tonight, and that really helped us. I’m so proud of our guys.” Athletic director Dale Eckenburg shares his perspective on the last few difficult games the team has faced, “This league is really, really tough, and that’s what makes it great, is we come out every night. You don’t know who’s going to win. We’ve had three close defeats there the last three games.”
The game certainly was tough for the team, with Del Oro leading in the first quarter, however, the team learned from their past mistakes and pulled things together. Coach Harter attributes this to playing in all four quarters, explaining, “We really played four quarters tonight, and we haven’t done that in a long time in our season. League just gets really, really tough. And when you’re able to play four quarters in a league game against a rival opponent like Del Oro. It just makes all the difference. These guys battled their butts off tonight.” Andrews shares a similar perspective, “What we did different was we played hard and great the whole game. It wasn’t just the first half or just the second half. We played all four quarters to our best of capability, and that’s why we came out with the win.”
Overall, though the team has had a tough season so far, this win and the team’s dedication proves that they are not only back in the game, they’re in it to win it.
