Boys’ basketball ends losing skid with OT victory at Lynbrook

The Falcons were able to beat the Lynbrook Vikings 77-70 in an overtime thriller on Jan. 26, a game that was crucial to stopping their mid-season four-game losing skid and putting them on track heading into the season’s final stretch and CCS.

After starting the preseason strong with a 6-2 record, qualifying for CCS with their sixth win, the Falcons proceeded to lose six of their next eight games, dropping their record to 10-8 overall and 2-4 in conference play going into their away conference showdown against the Vikings.

They lost to Half Moon Bay 74-62 on Dec. 29, Los Gatos 91-70 on Dec. 30, Monta Vista 70-64 on Jan. 3, and against Lynbrook 47-46 on Jan. 5.

The Falcons were able to to take their next two games against Fremont and Milpitas, 71-68 and 61-52 respectively; however, lost their next two to Santa Clara and Gunn, 80-69 and 56-54, heading into their second matchup with Lynbrook.

Senior forward Neal Iyengar attributed their midseason struggles to mainly their scoring difficulties.

Senior guard Michael Xue said many of the losses were “close heartbreakers” and that their losing streak was mainly because of lapses in defensive intensity for small stretches of the game.

“Most of our losses were so close, so usually we let the other team go on a run at some point,” said Xue.

In desperate need of a victory, the Falcons were able to step up as a team on the offensive end, with three of their five starters combining for 64 of their 77 points.

Senior forward Harrison Fong paced the team with 27 points, while junior guard Kyle Yu chipped in another 20, including the game-tying 3-pointer with 12 second left in regulation, and Iyengar rounded the trio’s dominant scoring performance with 17 points.

“We needed the win really badly and Harrison and Kyle played super well,” Iyengar said. “Kyle hit a 3 with 12 seconds left to send us to overtime, and we never slowed down.”

“After [Kyle’s 3-pointer] we felt confident that we were going to win that game, especially with the momentum we had and our mentality throughout the whole game,” said Xue. “We were locked in.”

The Falcons were able to hold the Vikings to only 9 points in overtime while pouring in 16 themselves, en route to a thrilling overtime victory that that improved the team’s confidence to make a deep playoff push.

“It was a good confidence booster,” said Xue. “It puts us back on the right track and our chances at winning league aren’t eliminated now.”

Iyengar added that this win gives the team a ton of confidence going to the back-end of their schedule.

“It was a great win and now we need to keep our mentality where it is and not look back on our losses. If we take it one game at a time, we can make a good push in CCS playoffs,” Iyengar said.

The team made it to the Division III CCS finals last year and qualified for the NorCal Tournament. With their newfound momentum, players think have a chance at winning CCS this season for the first time in school history.

With a 3-4 league record, the Falcons will have five more league games against Fremont, Milpitas, Santa Clara, Gunn and Monta Vista. They still have a small chance at winning the De Anza league.

“Our chances of winning are slim, but it’s good that we are ending the season and going into CCS strong,” said Xue.