By Victor Jeong, News Editor

Around one year ago, the Boy’s Varsity Basketball team was 0-3, coming off difficult losses to tough division rivals such the likes of SIS and KIS. This year, the Knights are 2-1, second place in the division, and in the driver’s seat heading into winter break.

As for what guided this early success, it can be attributed the individual performance of players and subtle changes within the coaching system. Varsity swingman Stephen Kil mentioned a change that he noticed, “I don’t know about last year, but in this year’s varsity, we have Mr. Lozano as our assistant coach, and because of that we’re doing a lot more conditioning.” Coach Pitkin elaborated on the point by saying, “Mr. Lozano did some of the JV coaching last year… he knows a lot about getting in shape and working out.”

One of the greater changes in the system was also the fact that JV and Varsity practice together. Stephen commented, “I think this is very beneficial for the JV because they get to get a lot more experience, and I personally think the best way for a person to get better is for them to play with people a lot better than them.” Coach Pitkin asserted the same feelings saying that he wanted to utilise the older and more experienced players more often.

Mr. Pitkin also noted other points of interest saying that he looked forward to “adding more plays and doing more complicated drills” now that he was more familiar with the team. Stephen duly acknowledged coach’s experience in basketball saying that he had “experience in high school basketball.”

The Junior Varsity team also received additional help in the form of the new coach, Coach Anderson. Coach Pitkin noted that Mr. Anderson also had experience in basketball during high school and stated that he could “pass that knowledge on” to the players. Stephen added, “Mr. Anderson is very encouraging, and he’s a very nice person.” Although the Junior Varsity team had yet to get rolling, there were plenty of hopes for them as well.

In the Pitkin Era, the Knights are 10-4, and placed second in the division last year. Coach Pitkin’s fundamentals and mottos may be the driving force behind the hopes of the team. “First and foremost, we’re looking to represent Christ since we’re a Christian school,” he said. He also urged the idea of behaving well off the court as well as on the court. “We’re only on the court a few hours a day,” he said.

The Boys Basketball program in it’s second year under a new coach is already doing well. However, the remainder of the season stands. “We’ve put ourselves in a really great position for the year as long as we don’t come back from Christmas break completely out of shape and having to start from scratch.”

The spirits are still high for the team, as there was a overall feel that the sky is the limit. “According to our record right now, 2-1, I think that we could very well even get a championship if we condition well for the Winter,” said Stephen. Coach Pitkin agreed saying, “I think we have a positive outlook for the rest of the year.”