It's been an up and down week for the Lynbrook Boys Basketball program. The Boys played at Saratoga High School this past Friday, both teams affected by a DECA conference which sucked away available players for the game.
In the JV contest, the Saratoga Falcons struck first scoring the games' first several baskets in what looked to be a fast paced game. However, the Vikings settled in and the game slowed down significantly through the first quarter with Lynbrook taking a 12-11 lead into the 2nd. In the second, the Vikes were able to parlay solid passing into longer possessions and better shot selection. Combined with a season high number of steals, the Vikes were able to slowly build their lead up to 11 at the half.
Despite coming back within 6 points in the third quarter, the Vikings nailed key three pointers from "Talledega Nights" and "Yung J" and extended the lead to a maximum of 17 points in the half. The Final score was 57-42 Lynbrook. All eight players for Lynbrook scored in a balanced attack. "Great ball movement today, and this was the best team effort we've had all year" said Head Coach Jeff Bale.
Later in the evening, the Varsity Vikings found a tough opponent in the Varsity Falcons. A low scoring first quarter saw the Falcs up 8-6, but the Vikes came back to own the lead 26-20 at the half. With a swish three pointer midway through the 3rd quarter by "Lil Puddle" Dwivedi led the Vikes to a 35-24 lead. That lead would hold until the start of the 4th with the score 45-34.
Then the Vikes would completely fall apart, being outscored 22-5 in the 4th including not scoring for the last 3.5 minutes. Saratoga wins in a very difficult loss for the Vikings, who now find themselves behind Saratoga in a battle for the league championship.
In a Saturday matchup, the Freshman boys won their 2nd contest against Mountain View. The first game, the Frosh blew out the Spartans, and won 55-18. This game, two players previously with the JV team were on the roster for the Mtn. View frosh who naturally played considerably better. The Vikings still had the edge however and won by 10. On Tuesday, the Vikes didn't fare as well in their only game this year about the Los Gatos Wildcats, taking the L before a two game set of girls games at Lynbrook.
Wednesday's JV and Varsity matchups against Homestead both went south. For the JV, the Vikings and Mustangs played a very solid defensive game, with the teams in a close game 28-26 going into the third with the Mustangs with the small lead. The game was high energy and both teams were hitting the boards hard. However, it wasn't to be for the Vikings who fell apart in the last eight minutes, scoring only two points the entire quarter to Homestead's sixteen. The 44-28 final didn't reflect the closeness of the entire game. "Hats off to Homestead today" said Coach Bale, "They played a full 32, we could only offer 24 minutes of solid play." "JJ" Jung led the Vikings with 16 of the team's 28 points.
The Varsity game was competitive as well, but two costly technical fouls on Lynbrook proved to devastating for their competitive spirit. The final was 59-52 Homestead. All the teams look to bounce back with wins in the next week.
