Boys basketball is back, and after finishing second in the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division last year with a 7-3 record, the team is focused on claiming first place this season.
Along with these aspirations, head coach Hosea Patton has big goals for the team’s Central Coast Section campaign.
“We were a few points away from a first-place finish,” Patton said. “So we’re really trying to build and push for that first place spot and get a good seed in CCS so that we can go farther than we got last year.”
As the regular season approaches, Patton believes that the team’s overall experience will carry them to success.
“Experience is probably our biggest strength right now,” said coach Patton. “I think it’s a matter of [the players we had last year] teaching the [players] that came up from JV and just being leaders on the team.”
Many players are confident that their team chemistry will benefit this season.
“As a group, we get along really well, and I find myself having a lot of fun at practice because I enjoy working with everyone on the team,” said senior Grant Palmer. “If we focus on collaboration and playing true team-based basketball, we can get very far this season.”
Junior Thomas Luong shared the same opinion.
“This team is really strong in the sense that we have a lot of communication,” said Luong. “We’re really connected so we have really good chemistry on the court.”
With high hopes and a strong sense of unity, the team kicked off their preseason with a home game against Burlingame on Nov. 19.
The Dons held a 14-9 lead over the Panthers at the end of the first quarter, fueled by two notable three-pointers from junior Brandon Potter. While Aragon was able to hang on to their lead for the majority of the second quarter, Burlingame outscored them 14-19, tying the game 28-28 at halftime.
After falling behind by one point at the beginning of the third quarter, junior Charlie Platz sank two three-pointers to reclaim the lead for the Dons. However, Aragon couldn’t maintain their lead and entered the fourth quarter trailing 42-41. Despite their good passing game, the Dons struggled to find the net, scoring only three points in the final quarter. Burlingame, on the other hand, added twelve and ultimately came out on top with a score of 54-44.
Despite the loss, several Dons had standout performances, contributing greatly to the team’s offensive effort. Potter led the team in scoring, putting up nine points throughout the night, followed by Platz and senior Jasper Caffo who both scored seven.
However, while the Dons had good communication and passing throughout the game, the team’s weak defense prevented the team from securing a win.
“Defense is definitely our biggest weakness right now,” Patton said after the game. “We’re working hard, but not smart … but we’ll strengthen it up. We got a couple more defensive schemes that we’ll put in place to help us moving forward”.
Palmer added that effort was also an area in need of improvement.
“Something we could work on is simply playing harder,” Palmer said. “There are many times when we give up possessions simply through lack of effort. If we stay determined our team can get really far”.
Although the team did not get the result they were hoping for in their first preseason game, they know there is still a long season ahead of them with lots of time to grow and enhance their skills. Committed to improving their defense and working hard in practice, the Dons are confident they can bounce back and make a strong push going into the regular season.
