The bouncing of a ball echos throughout a warm and sweaty gym. Play calls ring out as the clock runs down. Coaches shout out final instructions to the players as the fans crowd the bleachers to scream for the blue and gold. Is it that time of the year again? Yes, it is. Basketball season for the Jesuit Rangers has begun.
The junior varsity gold and blue teams fought hard and won in their season openers against Mesquite and McMillen on November 16th and 17th. With injuries, sicknesses, and other sports seriously depleting these two junior varsity teams, the season, as Coach Murphy put it, “is really up in the air”. Overall, the two teams have a lot of potential to grow throughout the season into elite basketball teams.
The JV gold team won their first game of the year against the Mesquite Skeeters by a tight margin of two points. A well-fought match all around by both teams, it was tight throughout all four quarters, one team never taking a significant lead over the other. Jeff Grimes ’17, a JV gold and varsity player, said that “It was a great win all around, even though I missed it due to an injury.” Coach Murphy was satisfied with the win due to the lack of preparation of the squad that was on the court, noting that “One freshman, in particular, didn’t even know he would be playing with the JV gold team until his lunch period the day of the game.” He expanded on this point, “They all did well stepping in and contributing. They didn’t use the lack of preparation as an excuse.”
Patrick Daniels ’17, another JV gold and varsity basketball player, noted, “We have a really young team with more room to develop, but I am really looking forward to playing with the new guys and teaching them the system.” Daniels thought that they “played well for their first game together,” and even though there were four new freshmen on the team, they were able to pull together as a team and get a victory in the end.
On the JV blue side, the team pulled out a 60-49 win against the McMillen Lions. With only six guys on the roster for the game, a victory seemed out of reach, but the Rangers fought hard and won by eleven. Coach Nevitt, the coach of the blue team, commented that “JV blue has been working very hard in practice and it’s showing in the games.” Nevitt has a lot of hope for this young team and the players feel the same way. Nick Motter ’17 reflected on their performance, saying, “It was a good game, but it was tough because they were big and we had some new players.”
Like the gold team, the JV blue team is young and has not had a lot of time to play together, but the coaching staff has high hopes for the season. Both teams possess promising potential, and the Rangers will surely not disappoint.
Make sure to come out and support both JV teams as their seasons take off.
