Boys’ basketball emerge as strong competitor in new conference
Photo by Lindsay Williams. Boys’ basketball team competes against Stuart High School after celebrating senior night.
March 30, 2014
The past season for Jefferson’s men’s basketball team has been a great success, as the varsity, junior varsity (jv) and freshmen teams both made big strides in their new conference. Both jv and freshmen teams boasted a fairly competitive record as the jv team won six of their 16 games and the freshmen team had a record of 8-8. Even though the varsity team’s record did not quite exhibit their improvement, they played several very close games with well-known competitive squads.
The freshmen team took a large squad of 15 young talented players who learned to play together as a unit in a small amount of time. Unlike other high schools, Jefferson does not have a developmental team, as the players come from all over the district and even from other counties. The freshmen took advantage of the time leading into the season and boasted their very competitive record, as well as a 5-1 conference record. Freshman Kanu Gaba led the freshmen in team points and stepped his game up.
“I really enjoyed being a part of the team this season, and I think the hype from the other players really helped me to improve my playing skills”, Gaba said.
The jv team took a smaller squad of 11 young men. They started off with a 3-1 record as they exerted their dominance, boasting a second best record in the conference. However, injuries haunted the jv basketball team as sophomores Alex Cintron and Anant Tewari suffered from concussion, while sophomores Douglass Andre, Deepak Jayachandran and Amir McGettrick had other lingering injuries throughout the season.
“Having an injury was a pretty annoying setback as far as our teams performances at games went. It’s hard to rely on your team to do well when so many people aren’t at their best”, Jayachandran said.
Nonetheless, the smaller squad of players was able to compete with some of the best teams in the league and developed a reputation for Jefferson as a competitor in the new conference.
The varsity team took a squad of 14 players who played their hearts out each game of the season. Despite not having a large number of seniors, the team was able to muster out wins against top ranked Langley and Mount Vernon High Schools.
The team altogether had a very successful season, and the players looked forward to keeping the momentum into the offseason as they looked to enhance their physical and mental aspects of performance.
![During a game against Hayfield last year, junior Helena Johnson dribbles across the court. This season, the Jefferson cheer team will be performing courtside at all varsity basketball games. “I didn’t know too much about basketball, but after two games, I caught on,” sophomore cheerleader Caitlyn Wood said. “I think [sideline cheer] is good to have the crowd engaged and keep encouraging the team to do their best.”](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/basketball.png)
![Photo courtesy of TJ Colonials Sports. “[At tryouts] masks were required at all times, and santization stations were set up so that after a ball was used, someone could clean it,” Anjali Maddipatla, a freshman on the varsity team, said. “We were required to bring our own water bottles so we didn’t have to share.”](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/basketball-356x475.jpeg)
![The boys gather around to recite their chant after what would be the final timeout of the game. “We should take this last game and use it to improve by never giving up and [continuing to] persevere,” Gundu said. The basketball season lasts until mid-February, so the team will be able to apply what they learned here for the majority of the season.](https://www.tjtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Screen-Shot-2019-12-18-at-10.07.22-PM-475x390.png)