Freshman and JV Boys Basketball hosted the Burlingame Panthers Saturday afternoon on the Winter Solstice, losing the pair of games in close fashion in both contests.
The Freshmen, down four players, were in the hole early by more than 15 points and went into the half with a similar deficit. The Panthers had beaten the Vikings last week in tournament play at Bellarmine, and came into the game the favorites. The Vikings had a bit of foul trouble and near the end of the 3rd as Arvin "Rambis" Tao fouled out and the Vikings had to go smaller on the court. The Vikes rallied deep in the 4th however and with 1:48 left in the game, they'd closed the Panther lead down to 3 from a high of 16. Despite getting several defensive stops, the Vikings missed a running floater that would have brought the lead down to one and had a very costly turnover in a halfcourt heave. The Panthers were able to put the Vikings away and finish with a 46-42 victory.
The JV game was fairly balanced the entire 32 minutes. Both teams shot poorly but were playing solid defense and crashing the boards hard in what resembled a series of group high fives gone horribly wrong. Balls being tipped so often they must have gone home with a sack of cash. At the half the Panthers led 19-18. The Vikes were able to grab the lead midway through the 3rd, 30-26 with some quality drives to the hole by "Jain Train" who scored 8 for the Vikes. Burlingame was able to respond with their own mini run taking back the lead 34-30. A series of fouls led the Panthers to have And-1s on several consecutive possessions in the 4th and maintain the lead. Down 44-37 with a minute to go, Coach Bale called for a look for a three pointer but panic on the court led to a horrible 1 on 3 shot attempt which was bailed out by the refs. Promptly missing both free throws. the Vikes lost their last real chance to take a stab at the win. Final score 48-40. After the game, Bale was quoted as saying "Can't win playing solo ball. This team needs to commit to the systems we have. Some of these guys are getting coal in their sock - trust."
The high scorer for the JV Vikes was Brian "Wrong" Rong with 13 on the night, Daniel "Tonka" Yu had 9 points. The Frosh and JV teams return to play at home on Monday the 23rd against American of Fremont. It will be both teams' 4th consecutive game without a practice.
