The bench goes crazy in the end of the fourth quarter of the varsity boys basketball game against the Model Secondary School for The Deaf as senior Tani Simkovich gets the fast break and runs towards the basket for a layup. He tosses the ball up into the basket and makes it, securing the Lion’s 71-25 win.
On Wednesday Nov. 19 the Lions faced Model at home. Throughout the whole game, the Lions grabbed rebounds and made quick passes, leading them to their blowout win.
The Lions got the lead quickly in the first quarter, with senior and captain Cyrus Blumenthal and junior Dylan Shank hitting multiple 3-pointers. Seniors Caden Mont and Jacob Lipsky also made shots that made up the team’s 1st quarter score of 18-6.
“I think we played well, did a good job, and we shared the ball well and played very selflessly,” Blumenthal said.
According to head coach Ryan Eskow some other team strengths included fast ball movement and cutting to the basket.
Eskow thinks that while no game is perfect, his team had a very positive performance. He saw the hard work from practice being translated onto the court, attributing the bigs’ effort to the teaching of new assistant coach Daron Gray.
“I think the guys who were on the bench, they came in and made a massive impact,” Eskow said. “They were ready to go right away; so it’s nice when it’s a full team effort.”
The second quarter involved multiple 3-pointers from Shank and junior Shia Messler. Senior Jesse Fisher and sophomore David Federowicz stole the ball for a few fast break layups towards the end of the quarter, making the score 43-14 heading into halftime.
Throughout the game, the Lions consistently grabbed rebounds and put shots back up, and the bench cheered their teammates on the whole time. According to sophomore Theo Pearlman, this motivation was a big factor in the win.
“We all had a lot of energy today,” Pearlman said. “I think that when the bench got involved it really helped bring everyone up.”
During the second half, a lot of bench players checked in, including junior Caleb Berman who made two quick layups off of cuts and Simkovich who rebounded and set off fast breaks. Federowicz also played at the top of the court and made quick passes into the paint to gain points off of layups.
The game ended with the Lions in a 46 point lead against Model. Their next game is on Dec. 2 against McLean, and they will play Berman on Dec. 9.
“Hopefully we can take games like this and use it as momentum, and hopefully we could play as a team like we did today,” Blumenthal said.
