The boys’ basketball team kicked off its season with a fourth-place finish at the Westmont Invitational during the week of Dec. 1-4.

“The team is doing all right,” said junior forward Kent Paisley. “We’re a young group of kids and we’re learning our way through varsity.”

For the Falcons, the week began with an electrifying 54-50 win over the Prospect Panthers, keyed by junior point guard Alex Chan’s clutch one-and-one free throws to put the game away.

However, Saratoga drew two tough matchups in the later rounds of play, dropping games to both Westmont by a score of 59-34 and Leland by a margin of 48-34.

“It’s a little early to be worried about the losing streak,” said Paisley. “We always try and we always go for the win, but Westmont and Leland are two very strong A-league teams.”

The Falcons hope to improve upon their slow 1-2 start moving forward in the season.

“We won our first game and lost the next two, but more importantly we have been improving and learning from our mistakes every single game,” said Chan.