TJ Boy’s Basketball is awarded 3rd place at the South Rebel Invite tournament.
Photo by Mia Nogueira
The Spartan Basketball team squared off against four different opponents over the weekend, and came out with a draw for the event with two wins and two losses.
On Friday, December 10th, the team went up against two very competitive 5A opponents in Pomona and Thunder Ridge, but unfortunately were unable to come out with the win in either competition. Their first game against Pomona was quite the nail-biter with TJ only losing by four points as the final seconds ticked away. They were sadly unable to make up the points deficit and recover a win, with a final score of 48-44. The leading scorer in this one was Eric Andres who had 10 points and was the only double digit scorer for the team in the game. The next game was against Thunder Ridge who TJ was also unable to defeat, losing with a score of 45-38.
On Saturday, the Spartans came alive winning both of their games and scoring 0ver 60 points more than their opponents combined. “I think losing in both of our games Friday lit a fire under the team and made us want the W’s on Saturday” said Senior Forward Ian Melnicoe. Against South, the hosts of the tournament, the Spartans dominated the game and stood victorious at the final buzzer with a score of 61-30. Eric Andres and Jordan Roland both scored in double digits in this one and helped propel the Spartans to their first win of the tournament. The Spartans also heftily defeated Heritage on Saturday with a final score of 76-44. Senior Ian Melnicoe was commanding under the basket with 12 total points, two blocked shots, and two steals.
The Spartans look to take their momentum from those last two games into their next game against Chaparrel on Tuesday, December 14th with tip off being at 7:00 p.m. This will be the Spartans’ second home game of the year and need their great fan base in attendance to bring home the W.
