Monday's JV contest between host Lynbrook and visiting MacDonald was all about the 4th quarter. For the Condors, the game was mainly about pride and finishing the year on a positive note, but for the Vikings, outright league title was on the line. Perhaps with that pressure, something didn't click with the Vikings for the first three quarters.

In the first matchup, held recently due to a reschedule, the Vikings outpaced the Condors and had a comfortable lead for nearly three-quarters of the game. This matchup was a far cry from that one, with the Condors taking a five-point lead into the half, and the Vikings last two shots of the 2nd quarter being airballs. Not the way that Head Coach Ajit Vijayakumar wanted the first half of the game to go. "I had Green Day playing in my head as we walked to the locker room at half," he stated after the game. "Let's just say that 'Good Riddance' seemed appropriate after that heinous 16 minutes of play."

The third quarter fared little better as the Vikings were listless and playing with little energy. Varsity Coach Rick Appler, on hand as his own Varsity team remains active awaiting playoffs, said the first three quarters were dispiriting. "It was like 'Pinky and the Brain' out there tonight. Brilliant world-domination style plan on paper, but just no ability to make it happen. Yellow man, just yellow."

As the 4th quarter began the Vikes seemed to get over their sour patch of play. First came a series of steals on defense that negated some sloppy turnovers on the offensive end. The Vikes were able to penetrate on the baseline against the Condor zone to get some inside looks. Suddenly, what had been the pace of a crawl became a dash. What started as a seven-point deficit going into the fourth quarter, and then extended to eight by the Condors was cut down by several effective possessions by the Vikes. First an inside finish by Daniel "One Sport" Yu, two free throws by Aarav "Action Jackson" Anand, a breakaway layup by Tanush "Bills" Agrawal, and then a three by Aiden "Chomp" Fang, had MacDonald wilting like a banana peel in the desert sun.

Anand immediately stole an inbounds pass and lasered it over to David "Ladies Please" Zhu who dropped his jumper in for two points. Anand then added two of his own to give the Vikes the first lead of the half at 53-52. Not a team to shy away from the 3-ball, the Condors took the lead back on their next possession with a trey from the left side. Then after a failed possession by the Vikes, they shot two more treys but missed both on the offensive end. The Vikes would then tie it up again at 55 with a nice pass from Fang to Yu under the hoop for an easy bucket. The Condors and Vikings would trade baskets on their next possessions, the Vikings' basket coming on an insane putback by Fang on a miss by Anand.

MacDonald stuck with their zone, and the Vikings continued to shred the defensive setup on the baseline, this time Agrawal finding Fang underneath for the easy bucket to put the Vikes ahead 59-57. With a minute remaining, Agrawal again hit the baseline and found Zhu underneath for a bucket to extend the lead to four. The Condors would answer with a layup underneath after what appeared to be a clear offensive push off, but the Vikes would put it to bed with a Yu jumper with 18 seconds to play, followed by a Condor line violation which effectively ended the game.

On this night at least, the House of the Vikings was simply not, a Boulevard of Broken Dreams for the victorious Lynbrook JV Boys Basketball Team - the El Camino League Champions. Then the JV boys celebrated by having trouble putting away the bleachers and had to be helped out by an old man.