The boys basketball team went into districts with a record of 18-8. The team started off very strong, winning eleven of their first thirteen games. The team finished the rest of the regular season with seven wins and six losses, losing their last four. 

Vernell Holt, Junior guard says the team’s main focus as of recent has been boxing out (preventing a player from getting a rebound with your body) and grabbing rebounds. “The more boards we come down with, the more chances we have to score,” Holt said. “If we rebound, we’ll win.” Holt says they watch film on themselves and other teams to try to understand what plays they may run. “Usually the day before we play a team, we’ll watch film, run a scout team, go through their plays, go through their actions and stuff to try and prepare us for our game.” Scout team is a group of players (usually bench players) who run plays that the opponent will use. Additionally, the starting five have to try to understand the play, and disrupt their passes or shots. This helps them understand their opponent a little better and prepare them for the game.

Chance Karara, Junior guard, explains that they’ve got to keep their composure during tough times. Karara says they practice in high pressure situations to try and get used to that feeling. “Our typical practices are usually intense, everybody flying around, working hard, lots of communication, and just playing as a team and playing confident.” Although the Spartans have lost four straight, they haven’t lost confidence one bit. “We starting off on a clean slate, 0-0, win or go home now, we’re just going to play as a team and play confident,” Karara said.

Battle ran a full court press in the first round of districts against Grain Valley. A full court press is where a team guards the opposing team for the whole court, rather than letting them get halfway down the court and then guarding them. “The press we ran, it’s a high tempo press, everybody is running, then we went back to the 2-3 (defensive formation).” Vernell Holt said. “We practiced that a lot so we could prepare for them, and they weren’t ready for it. We ran the press for most of the game, and it worked pretty consistently.” Battle ended up winning 89-55 and moved on to round two, where they faced Rock Bridge.

The game was very close the whole way, each team within seven points of each other after every quarter. “Rock Bridge plays a lot slower than everybody and we’re not used to that,” Karara said. Battle also ran the press against Rock Bridge and it worked out. Tate McCubbin hit the game tying shot to send the game into overtime with a score of 56-56. “We weren’t really prepared to go to overtime.” Holt said. “We were pretty tired and then we weren’t able to be as aggressive defensively, and it allowed them to slow the game down and get the shots they wanted instead of us,” Jack Putnam, junior center, says. “We didn’t substitute too much in the fourth quarter and overtime so I think we were kind of tired and weren’t able to pressure them as well as we wanted to.” Rock Bridge ended up winning 71-62 then losing to Hickman in the district championship.

“We’re going to come back stronger and better next year. We’re going for that district title then the state title,” Holt said. Battle ended the season on a tough loss but are looking for revenge next year.