by Keona Evans
With the end of the first month of 2023 comes the beginning of the end for Winter Sports. One of these sports is certainly worth talking about: basketball. Men’s basketball specifically, led by Head Coach Josh Aros, and Assistant Coach David Aros. The team has had an eventful season to say the least. They faced and pulled through stressful games and through troublesome times. With that being said, as a team, they still managed to perform excellently through all of the obstacles they faced.
This year, the men’s basketball team is led by seniors Joe Ursich, Jacob Harris, Cade Finley, Grant Cegelski, Alex Lawrence, Noah Allen, Hudson Davis, and Papa Mbengue. All of the seniors have been part of the Pointer basketball program for the entirety of their four years at Point Loma. They helped to build the program, thriving on the competition during the games and being supportive and involved leaders off the court. It wasn’t only the seniors who stepped up as leaders. Juniors Nick Freeman and Nick Woodworth, along with sophomores Trevor Dorris, Grant Stewart, and Lucas Myer played massive roles on the team and are sure to continue to do so in the coming years.
Point Loma’s men's basketball’s season exhibited the potential that will lead them to success later on. Even though their won-loss record may not initially stand out, there have been countless flashes of promise throughout the season. The team’s coaches agreed and said, “One of our best wins for the season had to be the game against University City where we won 63-62.”
This came even though University City plays an entire division above Point Loma, and the Pointers were able to beat them on UC’s home court. Point Loma’s coaches believed that after that exciting game, the team gained a new sense of confidence that will carry over into the next season and lead to further success.
This confidence was on display at last Friday’s final regular season game against La Jolla, which had defeated the Pointers twice already this season by scores of 67-43 and 51-45. The team needed to win to guarantee themselves a spot in the playoffs, and pulled out a hard fought victory, 55-49, over the visiting rivals. This allowed them to qualify for the CIF playoffs, where they will square off at High Tech High San Diego at 7 P.M. on Tuesday, February 14th.
Overall, the Point Loma’s men’s basketball team had a solid season. Even through all the struggles they had to endure, they pushed through, giving the season everything they had, and in doing so, made their coaches and school proud.