Boys' Basketball Shoots Their Shot for Success
A younger basketball team strives for CCS after graduating key players.
By Rizwan Khan
A younger basketball team strives for CCS after graduating key players.
By Rizwan Khan
The boys basketball team has started off strong with 2-0 to start the season. Having graduated many of their varsity players after last season, the team now takes on the challenge of getting new players to be able to work together.
Head coach Joe Berticevich feels that his players have a height advantage this season and he plans to utilize that defensively. However they are at the ground floor and so a goal for this season is to try to get a team with nine new players to play together and strive for success.
“The main goal this season is always to be competitive. Hopefully, that will get us to CCS and winning a league championship. Everybody's competitive in our league. So it means there's no easy games,” said Berticevich.
That competitive edge is what Sam Stepan, 10, finds to be his favorite part of the sport.
“Playing better competition and especially winning against better competition is an incredibly rewarding feeling because you know you put everything you’ve got into it and that the win was deserved,” said Stepan.
The team opened their first league game of the season with a massive win against rival team Gunderson High School, with a score of 75-12.
Freshman Derek Quan is excited for his first year and is ready to do what is possible to help the team achieve success.
“We’ve got to try to push the ball up and take advantage of fast breaks and get as many points from them as possible,” said Quan.
While having new players makes it harder to establish synergy, new people also means a new look at the game.
“We got a lot of new guys this year. We only have a couple returners from last year, so we'll definitely have new talent and some fresh eyes that we can see our team from a different point of view, so we'll have that help us,” said Stepan.
Senior Moses Kim has been playing for the team since his freshman year. Kim feels that the players are pretty close and hopes to expand their chemistry by going out together.
“For a team with nine new players, we have great chemistry and we have a lot of skill on the team. We do need to work on shooting as a team, however there are plenty of games left so we have a lot of chances to improve,” says Kim.
Junior Devin Quan is excited to play with his brother and use his chemistry with him to help elevate his game.
“Having a brother playing on the same team is a bit of a cheat code because you have that natural chemistry because you’ve grown up with each other and you have that understanding that you don’t get with your other teammates. It also adds that competitive edge because you’re always trying to outwork each other and be the best,” he said.
While the team is young and inexperienced, Stepan looks forward to seeing what the team can pull off this season.
“We're really looking forward to playing Lincoln this year because they were the last game of the season that if we won we would've gotten to CCS, but we unfortunately lost, so we weren’t able to go all the way. We gotta beat 'em this year,” said Stepan.
Head coach Joe Berticevich feels that his players have a height advantage this season and he plans to utilize that defensively. However they are at the ground floor and so a goal for this season is to try to get a team with nine new players to play together and strive for success.
“The main goal this season is always to be competitive. Hopefully, that will get us to CCS and winning a league championship. Everybody's competitive in our league. So it means there's no easy games,” said Berticevich.
That competitive edge is what Sam Stepan, 10, finds to be his favorite part of the sport.
“Playing better competition and especially winning against better competition is an incredibly rewarding feeling because you know you put everything you’ve got into it and that the win was deserved,” said Stepan.
The team opened their first league game of the season with a massive win against rival team Gunderson High School, with a score of 75-12.
Freshman Derek Quan is excited for his first year and is ready to do what is possible to help the team achieve success.
“We’ve got to try to push the ball up and take advantage of fast breaks and get as many points from them as possible,” said Quan.
While having new players makes it harder to establish synergy, new people also means a new look at the game.
“We got a lot of new guys this year. We only have a couple returners from last year, so we'll definitely have new talent and some fresh eyes that we can see our team from a different point of view, so we'll have that help us,” said Stepan.
Senior Moses Kim has been playing for the team since his freshman year. Kim feels that the players are pretty close and hopes to expand their chemistry by going out together.
“For a team with nine new players, we have great chemistry and we have a lot of skill on the team. We do need to work on shooting as a team, however there are plenty of games left so we have a lot of chances to improve,” says Kim.
Junior Devin Quan is excited to play with his brother and use his chemistry with him to help elevate his game.
“Having a brother playing on the same team is a bit of a cheat code because you have that natural chemistry because you’ve grown up with each other and you have that understanding that you don’t get with your other teammates. It also adds that competitive edge because you’re always trying to outwork each other and be the best,” he said.
While the team is young and inexperienced, Stepan looks forward to seeing what the team can pull off this season.
“We're really looking forward to playing Lincoln this year because they were the last game of the season that if we won we would've gotten to CCS, but we unfortunately lost, so we weren’t able to go all the way. We gotta beat 'em this year,” said Stepan.