Boys basketball heads into playoffs

Number+23%2C+Greg+Foster%2C+sophomore%2C+dribbles+the+ball+up+the+court+in+the+loss+to+Germantown+on+Feb.+2.

Cassie Shaurette

Number 23, Greg Foster, sophomore, dribbles the ball up the court in the loss to Germantown on Feb. 2.

With the regular season ending last week, Homestead’s boys basketball team heads into playoffs as a fourteenth seed and takes on the Bayport Pirates, the third seed, in Bayport on Friday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m.

With many days of practice this week, the team feels like it has been preparing very well and working hard for this game and knows that if the boys improve on the little things, the game has the potential to be great. 

“It will come down to the movement and who wants it more. They are a good team and we can be just as good, or better, when we play our game,” Jacob Urban, senior, said.

“We just need to shoot well. When your team can make a few shots, the game gets a whole lot easier. We know we can come out fast and start strong and if we do this, we have a great shot at an upset in the first round,” Justen Newby, senior, said.

We have had a strict mindset this week that we have to give it our all on Friday. We needed to work on be more concise in our playing and not throw the ball away or make careless mistakes. To win this game we have to play fast. They’re a big team but if we are able to run them down we have a good shot at winning,” Noah Check, senior, said.

Homestead has seven seniors that have led this team all year: Urban, Newby, Check, Jack Popp, Alex Kocab, Tommy Kennedy and Nick Zagorski. It’s always sad when a career comes to an end and these boys definitely would love to keep advancing and have a practice on Saturday.

“It’s sad to know that for some of us guys this is the last organized team sport we will play. We have to come out and play like we can. I’ve played alongside these guys my whole career and would love nothing more than to keep winning with them,” Check said.

“Playing alongside the rest of the seniors is very special to me. They are brothers to me and it’s sad that our season is coming to an end,” Urban said.

“Playing with these guys is so much fun, most of us have been playing together since middle school and there’s no other group of guys I’d rather make a dent in the playoffs with,” Newby said.