Improving with every dribble and shot, training constantly to improve game by game, the Jesuit junior varsity basketball team continues their season, sitting with a 52% winning percentage. This winning record remains after facing some of DFW’s most dominant basketball programs.
One of Jesuit’s most notable victories occurred on Saturday, January 9th, when the Rangers suited up against Flower Mound Marcus. This game marked the start of a difficult three-game standoff, which included games against Highland Park and McKinney High School. Marcus holds a 7-8 record so far this season, but their lackluster record is deceptive. Marcus is already a tough school to beat, and the difficulty only increases with a shallow bench. Jack Allen ‘18 shared this sentiment, noting that “Winning is always a lot tougher when you’re missing key players, and a few of our important big men were out with injuries. With less people coming off the bench to give the starters a break, our whole team’s stamina was really put to the test.”
Jesuit battled back and forth with Flower Mound for the majority of the first half and all the way through to the finish of third quarter, which the Rangers ended with an unbelievable streak of 5 clutch steals that put them within two points of their opponent. When asked about it after the game, Christopher Horton ‘18 told the Roundup that they “didn’t care about the score on the scoreboard. [They] were going to win that game no matter what.” Flower Mound Marcus started the fourth quarter with some strategic clock management, holding onto the ball until Horton tipped a pass to Allen for a game-tying layup. With 50 seconds left on the clock and down by 2, Horton sank a clutch 3-pointer to put the Rangers ahead by 1 . With 7 seconds left to go, Allen made a notable steal that led to Josh Marshall ‘18 being fouled at the end of the game. Marshall drained both free throws to give Jesuit a little breathing room with 5.6 seconds left on the clock. Flower Mound Marcus futilely threw up a prayer to try and send the game into overtime, but the game ended with the score at 51-48 in favor of Jesuit.
When asked what his reaction was to the gritty win, Nick Motter ‘18 noted, “It was a hard-fought game, but we played really well as a team on both offense and defense.” Motter acknowledged how Aidan Buckley ‘18, Peter Papanicolaou ‘18, and Josh Marshall ‘18 “dominated the boards every single quarter,” and how “the guards worked the ball well to create good shot opportunities,” opportunities that contributed to the win.
Sadly, the Rangers weren’t as successful in their game on the 11th of January, which they lost 43-34 to the Highland Park Scots.
After the game, Aidan Buckley noted that “It’s always harder when you’re playing against your rivals. We had a hard time converting on key shots, and didn’t grab enough rebounds.”
Jesuit went on to battle it out with McKinney High School. Playing the game with the minimum 5 players on their roster, Jesuit kept it within 4 at halftime. McKinney came out guns blazing with a dominant 10-0 run. However, Jesuit answered with a 10-0 run of their own to cut the lead back to 4. Jesuit fought back and forth with McKinney until the final few minutes, where the Lions pulled away to win 65-57.
The Jesuit JV Blue Basketball team has gone 1-4 in their last five game stretch, which prompts us to ask the following question: What is so significant about this team? The answer? JV Blue is playing with a relatively low roster size in comparison to any other year in the program. Their roster size of seven players is a difficult number to work with, seeing how out of the 21 games they have played this season, nearly half of the games have been especially difficult because many key players sat out of the lineup you see today. Finding the stamina to get through four exasperating quarters of hard fought basketball is a challenge for any team, but when playing with the number of guys that this team regularly has available, the challenge gets even harder. This coupled with the somewhat streaky shooting that JV Blue has dealt with this year, a 11-11 record is to be expected. The team has produced exceptional performances for Home games as they sit on a 9-4 record, but they have fallen short in their Away games with a 2-7 record. As more and more players get comfortable within this thriving program, great things are to be expected from this basketball team.
