The JV Girls, JV Boys, and Varsity Boys Basketball teams all took the floor on Tuesday afternoon/evening in a basketball tripleheader, but all failed to secure a victory much to the chagrin of local hoops legend and Lynbrook Basketball staple Tim "The Goat" Wehner who was in the stands.
The JV girls took on local district foe Cupertino in a close battle. Cupertino held a small but steady lead throughout most of the game, and extended their lead to nine points in the 4th quarter before roaring back in the final two minutes to pull within three points in the final seconds. Cupertino was able to withstand the charge and was able to get to the line and score one additional free throw to seal the game 36-32. Pandemonium nearly broke out in the last seconds as a dispute over time nearly led to a riot at the scorer's table but peace was restored when everyone realized that it didn't matter in the least and they should act like adults.
In the second game of the day, the JV Boys put up a strong effort against visiting Valley Christian, but were overwhelmed by the fitness level and defensive intensity of the visiting Warriors. The Warriors supplied full court pressure for much of the game, leaving the undersized JV team to repeatedly scramble to break the press. Adding to woes was the fact that the Vikes missed 12 free throws. A scout in the stands, when witnessing the charity-stripe disaster simply said, "Damnnnn." At the half the Warriors led 30-15, and they'd continue the romp in the 3rd, outscoring the Vikes 24-12 in the quarter. The Vikes would improve each quarter with their scoring, but it was far from enough, losing 61-43. Coach Jeff Bale, who went off prior to the game for his players disrespectful conduct, said after the game, "I'll be seeing my team on the track come Thursday."
The final game of the evening was the Varsity Boys who also played the Warriors from Very Costly. The Vikes jumped out to an excellent start, Junior Judah "Chainz" Marks hitting 7 early points, Jerry "Old Man Jheri Curl" making a key block, and some transition points had the Vikes up 14-10. VC would up their defense in the last two minutes of the quarter, forcing the Vikes to take some ill-advised shots, and taking the lead going into the 2nd quarter. From there, the Warriors would not again relinquish the lead. The Vikings cut the lead to as few as 7 in the 4th, but lost by 15. The final score being 63-48. The good news was the Vikes did beat the spread set by Lynbrook students on how many "dunks on our players" were going to happen during the game. The line was set at 2.5 and the Vikes were not dunked on.
Lead Assistant Coach Ajit Vijayakumar described guard "Jin N Tonic" as "OHENOMAL." Not sure about that context, but this author believes that to be a positive description. The JV Vikes have little time to recover as they host Hillsdale tomorrow in a double-header with the Boys Freshman team. Both the Frosh and JV travel to play Irvington HS on Saturday. The Varsity Boys now have a week off.
