So far this year the JV Gold Basketball team has been off to a hot start, going 8-4 after two tournaments and four regular season games. Head Coach Tim Murphy explained his hopes starting the season, “My expectations are for the team to work hard every day in practice in learning our offensive and defensive system. We have 12 guys who work very hard in practice and push each other to get better so expectations were pretty high coming into the season.”
The team won it’s first game over Mesquite with ease, winning by the score of 54-41. After their first game, the team entered the Naaman Forest tournament with confidence after their first game, and their success continued. They won their first three games over Lakeview Centennial (80-51), North Garland (66-35), and Duncanville (65-54) to advance to the championship game of the tournament against Naaman Forest. With five players not able to make it to the game, the Rangers battled to win an overtime thriller over Naaman Forest by the score of 70-68. Coach Murphy said, “I was very proud of how the team fought hard with only 7 guys on the roster to win in OT against Naaman Forest.”
After the tournament, the team had back to back games against Flower Mound and Highland Park without any practices before. The Rangers dropped two in a row losing by the scores of 66-52 to Flower Mound, and 65-47 to Highland Park. Forward Chase Kirkland ’16 shared his thoughts on how the team has played up to this point in the season and how the team can improve, “We have done a good job competing and staying composed in our close cut games. I think going forward, we need to build some more team chemistry and always come ready to play from the start of the first quarter in order to keep winning games.”
The Rangers got back on the winning track by beating Berkner by the score of 48-32. After the Berkner game, the team entered the Arlington Lamar tournament, where they went 2-2. The Rangers won their first game in the tournament in a nail-biter against Arlington Sam Houston by the score of 40-39, but then lost in another close game against South Grand Prairie with a final score of 46-42. The team bounced back to beat Duncanville 68-47, but then lost to Arlington Legacy 45-39. Guard Jeff Grimes ’17 noted, “We’ve had a good season and its a great group of players. When we come together and play well we can beat anyone.”
Off to a great start at 8-4, the JV Gold team looks to continue their success in the upcoming Jesuit Christmas Tournament, and further down the road during the season.
