The student section is commonly thought of as one of the top ways to press home court advantage, especially in basketball but the Patriots got to experience the rare occasion where future students get to show they can help home court advantage during the annual Jam the Gym Night. This year the game took place against Bellevue East High School and the future Patriots brought the energy as the Patriots took the victory 78-43 in spectacular fashion.
“A big home crowd is cool to play in front of,” head coach Tim Leuschen said. “[However], we are focused on doing things the right way no matter what the size of the crowd is and where we are playing.”
“We knew we really needed that win,” junior Bernie Anderson said. “We had lost some games that we really shouldn’t have lost so we really locked in for that game.”
When a large crowd is in attendance, that often applies a lot of pressure for both teams and can commonly lead to slow starts but the Patriots were able to power through that early as they entered halftime with an impressive 42-17 lead.
“The boys were focused on what they needed to do to have success,” Leuschen said. “Our defense really made it tough for the Bell East offense to get good shots and we shared the ball on the offensive end of the floor.”
“The most important part was how we warmed up,” Anderson said. “We had a good warm-up which really helped us play well at the beginning of the game. That’s what really got us through the entire game.”
Sometimes, when a team gets out to an early lead, they slow down in the second half and give up that lead. This was not the case for the Patriots as they continued their dominant performance from the first half and increased their lead by 10 points as they took the victory by an incredible 35 points.
“It goes back to doing things the right way no matter the situation,” Leuschen said. “We were focused on each possession and doing things right. The score was just a byproduct of execution on both sides of the floor.”
“Coach says all the time that we need to play the full 32 minutes,” Anderson said. “We need to play the entire game not just 16 minutes or three quarters, we have to do it for the full 4 quarters.”
The Patriots will to continue their dominance beyond this game as they prepare for the rest of the season.
“We’re now on a winning streak,” Leuschen said. “We have to keep getting better each day and build up to playing our best basketball in late February and early March.”
“I think that win has already built us up,” Anderson said. “We’ve already gotten a few other wins which has really boosted our confidence. We have also had some good practices so hopefully, we can keep that going.”
