It was a battle of Vikings as Lynbrook Freshman and JV Boys Basketball squads were hosted by the Irvington High School Vikings on Saturday. The result was a split as the Freshmen took home their fourth victory of the season, remaining unbeaten so far. The JV continued their sink into the abyss with their fourth loss of the season, the squad still looking for the first victory of the year.

In the Freshman contest, Irvington played fast and loose, chucking up prayers repeatedly but hustling for rebounds and trying to score on transition points. What was going for offense was primarily the strategy of chucking up a brick and trying to gain a better shooting position via rebound - with some height and speed it did the trick in the first two quarters. What also worked was the Irvington Vikings pulled the Lynbrook Vikings into a track meet, speeding up the game. The latter Vikes were not as patient early on and shooting reflected that with poorly selected shots with just seconds gone by in on the shot clock.

The score was 31-27 at the half, but in the 3rd quarter, the Lynbrook Vikings started taking better shots and were anchored by Noah "Downtown" Brown who hit multiple threes and was able to split defenders on several drives. Downtown finished with 18 points, 15 of which were scored in the 2nd half of the game. Lynbrook held off Irvington in the final quarter and were able to win by double digits in an impressive second half. Coach Ajay Singh said after the game, "Our team showed incredible focus and discipline tonight. The guys trusted each other, knocked down shots, and brought energy of defense. It was a complete team effort, and I'm proud of how they executed to earn this win."

The JV game started out with a 7-0 Lynbrook run which was the last time the Vikes looked in control. Combining sloppy play, poor shooting, and heaps of communication problems, Lynbrook let a potential win slip away via put-back one-footers, bank threes, and a stolen ball in the last 3 seconds of the first quarter which led to an Irvington basket. The LHS Vikes had hands made of stone and couldn't catch passes at the post, shot air balls that missed by size of a standard square dance circle, repeatedly threw balls out of bounds to ghost teammates, kicked balls on breakaways, and even racked up a technical foul after failing to foul a player late in the game and insisting on hugging them from their rear. One fan said it was the scariest thing he'd seen since the Halloween mazes at Knott's Scary Farm this year. Despite the atrocious play, both Viking teams played poorly and the score remained a four-point game going into the 4th. The 4th ended up being both a foul fest and a modern NBA All-Star game, with the teams ultimately combining for 37 points - few of which were impressive. Irvington took the "win" 55-46. Lynbrook guard Justin "JJ" Jung scored 14 points, and Daniel "Big Tonka" Yu added 13 in the loss.

The Freshman and JV squads return to play on Tuesday, along with Varsity for an away tripleheader against host Carlmont.