In the third game of the season, the boys JV basketball team fell to the Bullis School in an out-of-conference game on Dec. 11. JDS struggled with frequent turnovers and rebounding; however, the Lions were strong on defense, getting steals, making strong passes, and blocking their opponents. The Lions took many opportunities to shoot the ball, but weren’t successful on many of them, leading to a 71-29 loss.
In the first quarter of the game, the Lions quickly took the lead with sophomore Jack Grunberger making the first shot of the game, putting JDS up 2-0. Bullis got the ball and scored a 3-pointer, bringing them up. It was a close game between the two teams, but Bullis continued to score, breaking away from the Lions, and by the end of the first quarter, Bullis was up 27-8.
Grunberger played for most of the game and had multiple assists. Despite the loss, Grunberger was pleased with how his team performed.
“I’m proud. I’m proud of the people who don’t normally get in so much, going in, fighting hard, and doing their part,” Grunberger said. “It’s really good to know that our whole team is able to contribute to our games even though we lost.”
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Lions were giving up many turnovers, making it difficult for them to score. With 4:56 left on the clock, the Lions’ head coach, Matthew Landy, called a timeout.
“Positivity is the best medicine in that type of situation.” Landy said, “I tell them to keep their heads up. How proud I am of them.”
After the timeout, the Lions came back out, with their defense blocking Bullis from getting more rebounds, and allowing the Lions to score more baskets. While the Lions were down by 29 points, they pushed through and ended the first half of the game down 45-19.
Starting in the third quarter, the Lions’ defense was stronger than it had been previously. With freshman Zachery Grumet getting a few blocks and making layups with multiple defenders guarding him, this allowed the Lions to score and get the rebounds off of their shots, along with their opponents, which was an issue that the Lions struggled with early in the game, which allowed Bullis to score their points so early on.
Freshman Sam Olin was playing for almost the entirety of the game, adding eight points to the score as well as multiple assists. Olin felt as though the team played well; however, there are a things he feels they should improve on.
“I think we definitely have to work on playing at our pace and not pushing the ball up the court when we shoot it,” Olin said.
Starting in the fourth quarter, the Lions were down 58-22. They continued to pursue, getting more steals; however, Bullis scored five more points. Sophomore Hillel Goldberg hit a jump shot, scoring the first points for the Lions in the fourth quarter. Landy called another time-out with 4:51 left in the game. The Lions then went on to score 4 more points, making the final score 71-29.
“We’re coming off a big win against Georgetown prep on Monday, and to finish the week one and one, we’re proud of that, and we’re excited to go back into conference play next week with two games and just keep on rolling like we were before,” Landy said.
