Team stays positive after a tough loss

The gym was packed as numerous fans came out to see the Falcons take on league-leading Palo Alto at home on Jan. 29. But on the first play of the game, the fans knew it was going to be a long night: Palo Alto’s Aubrey Dawkins cut to the hoop and dunked.

From there, the Falcons fought hard but lost 59-43, dropping them to 6-2 in league and snapping a four-game winning streak.

The team was outscored 21-9 in the first quarter, but made rallies in the second and fourth quarters.

“We didn’t start out as well as we would have liked,” senior point guard Kyle Dozier said. “We started really slow, which ended up hurting us.”

In the loss, the Falcons showed their lack of physical size as their defense was exposed by cuts to the basket, which led to alley-oop lobs and easy lay-ups for the Vikings.

“We needed [to improve] defensively just staying in what we call the pact-line and not allowing backdoor cuts which hurt us last night,” Dozier said. “The pact-line is an area a few feet from the three-point line and it is for help defense when someone is beat off the dribble.”
Still, the Falcons showed toughness by keeping it a close game after the rough first quarter.

“We got down early, and we fought back hard, but in the end it just wasn’t enough,” Dozier said. “Our effort was good from the second to fourth quarter.”

However, even with the lack of size in their lineup, the team has been able to compete and win in competitive games due to their focus and work ethic.

“We are not very big, obviously. We are all pretty small and undersized, but we are all trying to use the basics of playing hard,” senior forward Stevie Berman said. “[We are] always giving 100 percent effort and working hard for our teammates.”

The team’s great results can also be attributed to the work of the coaching staff pushing the players and their coaches’ preparation for the teams that they face.

“This year we really bought into the program that coach gave us and really embraced the work he does for us like scouting,” Berman said.

As the end of the regular season approaches and the team has its eyes on success in CCS.

“We want to be playing our best basketball right before CCS to carry that momentum into CCS,” Dozier said.

This season has been great for the Falcons and they are confident while diving deeper into the season. The team was scheduled to play Milpitas, Mountain View and Homestead next on Feb. 1, Feb. 5, and Feb. 12 respectively. (The results were not printable in this issue because of publisher deadlines.)

“We obviously have high goals for league and then once we get to CCS we plan to win it,” Berman said.