On Mon. Dec. 12, the boys varsity basketball team faced off against Blair, with hopes of avenging last year’s 41-47 loss.  Their efforts proved successful as they rocked their opponents to the tune of 75-49, in favor of the WJ Wildcats.

The team was led by excellent play from seniors Halid Hamadi and Ryan Lynch, who combined for 35 of the team’s points, as well as key juniors Michael Lumbuku and Sean Poosson, the team’s leading rebounders so far.

The team is in its first year under Coach Mark Karver, who feels the transition process has been slow, but promising.

“A lot of things could have gone wrong; we lost our first two games of the season, but no one pointed fingers and the team stuck together,” said Karver.

It was a close bout early on, as the score at the end of the first quarter read 13-12, with WJ ahead by one. The score was closer than the gameplay showed in terms of possession and overall play, since the Wildcats were not fazed by the full court press by Blair throughout most of the game.

“We did a good job breaking the press, and that was something we struggled with early on in the season,” said Karver.

The team’s ability to break the press led to plenty of fast break baskets, and the team rode that momentum throughout the first half. Not giving up without a fight early on, Blair continually cut away at the point deficit with a set of three pointers closing out the first half.

“Blair was able to hang tough with us in the first half, by hitting some key threes but in the second half we started to click offensively and pull away,” said Lynch.

The Wildcats came storming out of the gate in the second half, transforming into a scoring machine. They put up 29 points in the third quarter alone, keyed by 15 points from Lynch, and a multitude of assists from senior guard Harrison Gibert.

“We were very efficient on offense. We were passing well, hitting open shots, and I dunked it, ” said senior center Halid Hamadi.

After that, there was no turning back, and the team sustained the lead for the rest of the game, giving reserve players quality minutes and riding out the win.

UPDATE: The team’s next game is Friday, Dec. 16 at Northwest, @ 7 PM