Towards the end of a tremendous season, boys basketball continued their undefeated record in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and seeks to keep the momentum going into the playoffs.
“We’ve got to keep winning,” Coach Jeff Lamere said. “If we keep winning, we keep playing.”
According to Lamere, the team’s 14 wins in a row have made league history.
“This last month has been incredibly consistent,” Lamere said. “We won all the games in league … since 2006, it’s only been three times since a team has done this. ”
Junior Simon Minami said players are optimistic about their progress and look forward to continuing their winning streak.
“We’ve got three or four league games left, and obviously our goal is to win,” junior Simon Minami said. “If we do that, then we’re in the league championship, and after that we’re looking at CCS.”
Despite being under great pressure, the team strives to overcome obstacles one-by-one, according to Minami.
“Honestly, we really take games one thing at a time, so we’re not that worried about stuff so far in the future,” Minami said.
While the team has multiple injured players, including junior Martín Segura and senior Connor Lusk, they pulled through and changed strategies accordingly.
During this adjustment period, the team has learned to adapt to different situations, according to Lamere.
“I think an old coach told me, ‘a season is a lifetime,’” Lamere said. “I think in any life there’s ups and downs and times when there’s great things, and other times when you fall on your face.”
According to Lamere, the players have supported each other during tough times.
“We are a pretty close group,” Lamere said. “When a kid goes down, the rest of the players give encouragement to the kid that needs to step up. One of the important things is when a player gets injured, the rest of the team needs to give them support, because that can be really tough when you can’t play. Mental health-wise, you need to throw your arm around those kids and show them how important they still are despite their injuries.”
