After winning SCVAL’s De Anza League with a 10-2 league record, the boys varsity basketball team fell to Everett Alvarez 63-61 to close out its season.
The ending of the team’s final game sparked controversy after the game-tying shot by senior Nikhil Majeti was disallowed by the referees. With 0.2 seconds remaining, Majeti tipped a missed layup back in to even the score. Coach Jeff LaMere, said the referee told him the clock wasn’t properly working and thus didn’t count the shot.
“Certainly, that was very disappointing to the team, but it’s something that we don’t have control over,” LaMere said. “We did the best we could with the circumstances, and it’s one of those things that we talked about in the locker room afterwards: there’s often things in life that are out of your control, and you do the best that you can, but you have to move forward in the end.”
In addition to a disappointing end to the season, the team also had to overcome nine COVID-19 cases and various injuries this season. LaMere said he and his players ultimately made the most of the situation with multiple players stepping up to lead..
“We ended up with numerous players sitting out of games and missing because of illness, so it was exciting to see different players step up in different parts of the season and have their moments,” LaMere said.
Captain and senior Sebastian Chancellor said a huge strength of his team was its camaraderie. He cites the team’s final league game against Los Altos, a 49-43 victory which made the team league champions, as an example.
“Going into our last (regular season) game, our coach told us to leave our signature on the season, so we went in with the mindset that we were going to leave it all out on the court,” Chancellor said. “Our word that we used the most throughout the season was ‘together,’ and we definitely carried that idea throughout the game.”
While the season didn’t end the way he wanted it to, Chancellor said the team’s effort and will to win never wavered.
“There were a lot of life lessons that came with this season and a lot of adversity that was unanticipated that I think we handled really well,” Chancellor said. “It was definitely a tough way to end, but I am proud of all the things we accomplished.”
