J.K.O v. Baruch

On Thursday, January 10th, the Baruch Boys’ Varsity Basketball team took on J.K.O, in their second appearance. The first game that took place back in November, the Blue Devils had successfully won against them by 20 points, leading up to the first win of the season. We had won at our home court, and now we were set to play in theirs.

The game started with J.K.O handling the tip and easily scoring within the first few seconds of the game. The game continued to progress, but J.K.O couldn’t stop the Blue Devils, easily opening up the first quarter with a 15-9 lead. The harassment didn’t stop from the Baruchians, who slowly slipped under the weak 2-3 defense of J.K.O. At the half, the Blue Devils led 32-19. It seemed to the Blue Devils that it would be another blow out game, but J.K.O came out of their huddle with a burning desire to take back the game.

The problem with our team is, and always has been defense. Although we had a 13 point lead, our coach, HowardSoskind told us during the half, “we shouldn’t be winning by 13,we should be winning by 23.” It wasn’t a pretty game, coming from both teams, but the game continued.

J.K.O managed to slowly break apart our defense even further, and by the time we realized what had happened, J.K.O outscored us in the third quarter, 12-10, making the score 42-31 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The game continued to slide from the Blue Devils from there, with J.K.O continuing to attack the basket and playing better, but not amazing defense.

As the game came down to the final 2 minutes, the score had closed, and we were holding onto a 3 point lead. J.K.O could not be stopped, because our defense was allowing the ball to get to the rim.

But the Blue Devils started to regain their composure, trading baskets, but then moving away from J.K.O by making smart plays, and not rushing the ball. The final score was 50-45, Blue Devils. Although we pulled off a win, the team and coach were not satisfied. It had been a close game, even when we knew we were the better team. But in the end, all that matters is the win, and it makes us strive for more wins to get into the playoffs.

-Joseph P. (12)