The Jesuit Varsity Basketball team rushes the court with music ringing in the fans ears. Lay-up lines are formed followed by a dunk, sending the crowd into insanity. A whistle blows, and the student section knows it’s time to cheer their team to victory.
The Rangers played three games in the past week against Irving Nimitz, W.T. White, and Irving MacArthur. The Rangers fought hard in every game and ended the week with a 1-2 record. Due to the fact that the Rangers have beaten all of these teams in the past, the competition between the teams in the future will no doubt result in a great game.
The first of the three games was against Irving Nimitz. The Rangers lost a hard fought game 54-49. Jesuit entered the fourth quarter winning, but they were outscored 21-7 in the final quarter, losing by five. Michael Jankovich ’18 led the team with a strong 21 point outing. Others that had notable games were Rusty Landon ’16, Shawn Reagan ’16, Jacob Palisch ’17, and Marcus Hill ’18, all tallying 26 points. Talking about the game, junior Mitch Prendergast said, “It was a really good game by both teams. I felt that we should’ve won, but we couldn’t close it out in the final quarter. Nimitz played a good game, and they deserved the win.” In the end, the Rangers played great, but they suffered a tough loss.
The Rangers next squared off against the W.T. White Longhorns. With a final score of 60-48, the Rangers pulled out a solid road win. Michael Jankovich again led the team in scoring with 22 points. Another great performance was sophomore Marcus Hill, who racked up 12 points and 8 rebounds. Junior Dixon Smith commented on the significance of this win, noting, “This was a good win for the team and I feel like we played well. W.T. White has a good team this year, and I think the win is a good confidence boost as we are getting closer to playoffs.” The Rangers keep the saddle after the victory over the Longhorns and are expected to hold it for a while.
The final game of the week saw Jesuit fight in a tough game against Irving MacArthur. However, the Rangers ended up losing this battle with a final score of 70-65. The game went to overtime due to a game-tying layup by Reid Hatzman ’18 with five seconds left in the game. Michael Jankovich led the team this time with 24 points, but the Rangers just couldn’t out score MacArthur’s Andrew Jones, who recorded 36 points. Both teams played well,  and Mitch Prendergast commented on the game saying, “MacArthur is a great team, and we knew it was going to be a good game. We should have pulled it out in the end, but they just finished the game when we didn’t.” This was one of the Rangers best games all year, and Jesuit will for sure rally in the weeks to come.
Overall, the Rangers had a solid week with two losses and one win. They showed spirit and talent throughout every game, win or loss. The season is coming to an end, but fans and team are both confident that the playoffs will be entertaining and full of wins.
