A huge weight was lifted off the shoulders of the varsity boys basketball team on Wednesday night, as they defeated the B-CC Barons 58-55, gaining their first win of the season.

Sophomore guard Harrison Gibert and junior guard Omri Ovadia led all scorers with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Any victory means a lot to the fans, but to the Wildcats, it meant so much more, something they have been working toward throughout the season.

“Winning this was our initial goal and it took awhile; but that just made winning that much more fulfilling,” said junior guard Michael New, who netted four points in the win. “Hopefully, it’s just a glimpse of what we can do next season.”

Earlier this season, the team was toppled by the Barons 36-54. WJ was looking forward to this game because they felt confident they could not only contend, but beat the Barons.

“We knew we were capable of it and we knew we could match up with them,” said New. “It was just a matter of heart in this game. And we had it.”

WJ has been showing constant improvement in terms of scoring since the start of the season. For example, they scored a season-tying 58 points in their winning effort against B-CC – the same number of points they scored in a previous game against Sherwood. Also, through the first 12 games of the season, the Wildcats didn’t score more than 45 points a game; but in the last six out of seven games, they topped 45.

And with only two seniors leaving and five juniors becoming seniors, this win also creates confidence for the team next season.

“We’re really optimistic for next year,” said New. “We have so much talent and we’re finally seeing it come together.”

WJ will try to finish the season strong in their last road game this Monday against Magruder.