On Tuesday, February 4, the varsity basketball team played against Grayslake Central High School, and after a game filled with teamwork, they ended the game winning 47-39.

They had previously played Central before that, and with those games ending in the loss for the Knights, the team came back tougher this game.

“I think the loss against Central the first game really gave us the motivation to really step up on our game and really work hard in practices and games to overcome the mistakes we were making so that when we came to play them on our court we were ready to play physically and mentally against them,” said junior Benson Palamalayil.

Throughout the game, the team worked together to make sure they were doing as much as possible to come out with a win.

“The team actually had an off night and our freshman, Dominic, had the hot hand and since our team is unselfish, we continued to give Dom the ball. Also, the team did really well not trying to force any shots and keeping a calm tempo throughout the game while never losing our composure,” said senior Jamon Thomas.

The team also uses their practices to help prepare them for the games they have within the week, not only on the court, but also helped them bond with one another.

“Our practice was slowly getting better as we were approaching the game against central and being honest we weren’t doing too well in practice leading up to the first game against central at their court.” Palamalayil said, “We also started to really bond with one another throughout the season which really helped us on the court as we were picking each other up and really motivating each other to work harder to get the victory we were hungry for.”

The fans believed the game was intriguing and brought them to the edge of their seats.

“There wasn’t a single moment in the game where I wanted to take my eyes off the court. There was always something happening and if you looked away, you would definitely miss something. Even the little things in the game made it interesting. I don’t go to many basketball games, but I’m definitely glad that I decided to go to this one in particular,” said senior Jackie Mutter.

The players were also affected by the support that the fans and their teammates gave throughout the entirety of the game.

“Personally having all our fans coming out to support us and our bench players being really active on the bench really helped us play a lot more efficiently and be more focused. The energy from both sides really helped us because if we did make a mistake we were being cheered on by the fans to continue and our teammates were encouraging us to push ourselves. There were times where we were struggling on the defensive side and offensive side but the encouragement from both the fans and teammates really helped us overcome those small mistakes which were really affecting our game,” Palamalayil said.