Basketball season is underway and the boys in blue and gold are already showing extreme amounts of hustle and grit. The first district home game the basketball team played, Jan. 4, was their second district game of the year against Pebble Hills High School.  After an upsetting 53-24 loss on Dec. 17, 2021, in their first district matchup against Americas High School, the team really turned it around, victorious over Pebble Hills in a tenacious 65-57 win behind an outstanding 26-point performance from senior Zealand Mark.

“I’m humbled, I’ll do whatever it takes for my team to make playoffs,” Mark said.

With this performance, the group planned to keep this momentum against rival Franklin High School, who they played on Jan. 7.  The final score of the game ended up being 61-51, Franklin taking the first matchup of the year.  It was a hard-fought battle; however, the Thunderbirds fell short.  At one point in the game, however, the team was only down 7, after a stunning three straight three pointers by junior Enrique Castro.  The next matchup between the westside rivals is Feb. 1, a home game.

“We feel really confident in our next matchup with Franklin.  I’m glad we got to play them and get the nerves out at their court first, so by the time we see each other again we’ll be ready and we’ll be the ones with home court advantage.  We’re hungry and we feel the urgency to beath them on February 1st,” senior Ziggy Zimmerman said.

The team played Jan. 11, at home against Eastwood High School, another solid competitor that is currently 17-4, hoping to bounce back after a tough loss.

“We played a hard-fought game and came out with a loss [against Franklin], but we learned from the experience, and we will take what we learned to beat Eastwood on Tuesday,” junior Aiden Diamos said.

On  Jan. 11, the Thunderbirds lost to Eastwood 50-24.  Their next matchup is an away game, Jan. 14, against Eastlake High School, who are currently 3-17.  The team hopes to turn this two-game losing streak around and get back on their feet after two tough losses to strong district competition.