By Vivian Yenson, Staff Writer
On Tuesday night, for the first time in four years, boys’ basketball dominated 77-62 against the Edison Chargers. Senior varsity captain Joshua Gray led the team with an overwhelming 24-points, followed by freshman Jeremiah Davis’s 14-points and senior Cameron Mansouri’s 10-points.
The Barons started the first quarter strong, taking a commanding 10-0 lead. Within the first few minutes of the quarter, Davis scored four points and gave the Barons their first boost of momentum for the rivalry game. Edison slowly caught up, but the Chargers’ defense was no match for the Barons’ powerful offense. Senior Jake Bitzer scored two points for the team as soon as he subbed in and assisted with the several shots, ending the quarter with a lead of 20-13.
By comparison, the second quarter was slightly tougher on the Barons as they missed several of their attempted shots and the Chargers began closing the score gap. The Barons were able to keep up due to Edison’s numerous fouls, but the score remained close 27-25.
In the third quarter, the teams were neck-and-neck with even scoring, the Chargers catching up and tieing the game 32-32. Davis broke the tie with a three-pointer to regain the lead for the Barons. Gray followed with several back-to-back shots and gained 12 overall points in the third quarter alone. Thanks to their strong defense and great offensive plays, the Barons ended the third quarter with a buzzer beater shot by Gray and a lead of 55-40.
Continuing with the momentum from the previous quarter, the Barons scored several more points and received free throws due to Edison’s multiple fouls. However, midway through the final quarter, Gray injured his knee and caused a prompt stop in the game. Fortunately, within a couple of minutes, Gray was up and jumping, continuing to play with his unstoppable determination. By the last minute of the quarter, the Barons had a huge lead of 77-62 which allowed Head Coach D’Cean Bryant to rotate in all the substitutes and rest his starters.
“It felt amazing [to beat Edison]. This was redemption for last year and the year before. It felt like a revenge game because we really had nothing to play for while they had their league title on the line. Our motivation was just to take it away from them. We had really strong defense and good pick and rolls in this game; our weakest points were giving offensive rebounds and turning over the ball, but we limited those numbers”, said Gray.
Make sure to come out to the boys’ final game of the season as they take on the Marina Vikings on Thursday night at the gym.
