7th grade salvages win, while both 8th grade teams dealt first loss

There was no epic comeback or instant classic for the 8th grade Red Team.

Once again, they fell behind early and trailed by 9 points after three quarters of play. An 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter brought them within two. They had two trips down the court, with a chance to tie the game, but both of them failed.

Their sloppiness and poor defense let this game slip away and they wounded up losing 46-36, in a game that featured both ends of the spectrum for the Red Team.

Justin scored 7 quick points in the first minute or so in the second quarter to bring the 8th grade right back into the game. But they finished the half with more turnovers and were down 10 at the break.

They were back to a team of five, as the two DeMarillac players, David and Mark, did not play in today's game. It hurt them because Justin and Miles were both in foul trouble.

When Miles is in foul trouble, he can't be as aggressive and none more obvious that one play in the second half. The other team drove to the basket uncontested, because Miles was afraid to pick up another foul. Miles ended up fouling out with less than a minute to go in the game anyways.

The Red Team did themselves no favors from the free-throw line, as they shot 9-for-26. Justin and Miles combined to be 6-for-21 at the charity stripe. The points left on the board loom big when they cut the lead to two late in the fourth.

In division five, you can't get away with the same things you get away with in lower divisions. The turnovers and missed opportunities come back to haunt you, and the Red Team should've learned a lesson from their sloppiness.

Miles scored 18 points and Justin set a new career high with 13 points in the loss, as the 8th grade goes into the break (1-1).

White Team sleepwalks through third game
The first two wins of the season masked the flaws in the White Team. The game today put them out for everyone to see.

To say the 8th graders were disinterested this morning was an understatement and they had no energy from the get go, falling behind 11-0 even before the first quarter ended.

This squad is not built to come from behind, and were forced to play station to station. Mark barely got any fast breaks during the game, and their guards and shooters couldn't throw the ball into the ocean.

In the end, it was 26-12, in a game that might as well not have been played.

The lone bright spot for the White Team was Calson who had his best performance on the year, scoring 8 points and grabbing numerous rebounds. But nobody else on the team mustered much of an effort and the result showed, as the White Team now sits at (2-1) going into the break.

7th grade hangs on
The 7th grade led 14-4 at one point in the third and watched their lead slowly shrink. But in the end, Jason come up big with some clutch free-throws and put backs to give the 7th graders a 20-17 win, and a (3-0) record heading into the Christmas vacation.

Pablo scored all 10 of his points in the game in the first half, and Jason had 8 points.

Santiago had a huge bucket within the last minute of the game that padded the 7th grade's lead.

It is a great turnaround for the 7th graders as they won only one game the entire last season. Part of their improvement is undoubtedly from the boys from DeMarillac, but the ones who were on the team last year have stepped their game up a notch.

They are at a point now where they are picky about winning, as their Head Coach Tiffanie Vuong was unsatisfied with their performance despite the victory. If they won a game period last year, everyone would've been ecstatic. But now they are fine tuning their game in order to make a post-season run, a statement that wouldn't have dared to have been uttered a year ago.



Happy Birthday Thomas