By Emma Moriarty
As a famous basketball player once said, “You just have to keep your head in the game…. Just get your head in the game.” The Tempe Prep Men’s Varsity Basketball team must have also taken up this ideology and gotten their heads in the game based on their extremely successful and prosperous winter season.
The team began their season in November with a game against Phoenix Christian. When they ended the first quarter with 15 more points than the opposing side, it was apparent that the hard work and dedication the TPA team has put into both practice and weight lifting has paid off. The game ended with a score of 59-47, documenting the first win in a long going trend of victories.
Though the following two games after this win did not end statistically successful for Tempe Prep -firstly during a game against Arizona College Prep, with the final score being 38-55, and second their game against Arizona Charter Academy, with a score of 35-49 – it is obvious that the athletes gained knowledge from these losses when they effectively took down Arete Prep on November 29. Tempe Prep led by 5 points in the first quarter and continued to take a final score of 47-43, making this the second win of the season.
Flash forward to December: The Tempe Prep varsity team takes on Paradise Honors and wins with a final score of 63-53. Nearly two weeks later, TPA took another successful win against North Pointe Prep, ending with a score of 60-47.
After two more losses, first against Veritas Prep and then Fountain Hills, Tempe Prep picked up three consecutive wins. Firstly, against Mayer, TPA fought a difficult battle and yet still overcame their opponents and won 7 points ahead with a final score of 58-51. Following this triumph, Tempe Prep played next against Rancho Solano Prep. Our home team scored an amazing 51 points compared to Rancho’s 19 points. During the third win, which was against Benjamin Franklin, TPA was successful in scoring higher in every single quarter and nearly earning twice as many points. Tempe Prep left the game against Benjamin Franklin with an astounding score of 63-37.
During the final weeks of the season, the Tempe Prep varsity basketball team added another three wins to their record against Phoenix Day School, Valley Lutheran, and ended the season on a great note after winning their Friday game against Bagdad with a score of 69-46. Freshman varsity basketball player Ahmad Jones says, “Overall, this season was great. Very many people improved throughout the last few months.”
Tempe Prep cumulatively won 10 varsity basketball games, reflecting on how much hard work and dedication the team put into this season. Based on this, we can successfully guarantee that there are no basket cases here on the incredible TPA basketball team.
