Boys’ basketball (13-13) lost to Northwood High 39-40 on Jan. 25 during the Game of the Week in the gym. Students, parents, teachers and the cheer squads of both schools as well as ASB and jazz team filled the bleachers to root on the teams.

In accordance with the “Silent Night” theme, the home stand remained quiet until the Bulldogs scored their fifth point. As junior and starting center Mohsen Hashemi scored the two-pointer that brought the score to 5-4, the home stand erupted into cheers. This energy continued throughout the rest of the game.

“It was really fun being there,” sophomore and jazz team member Neha Muvvala said. “The entire home stand was completely full, and people were cheering for every second of the game.”

With both teams playing with solid defense and aggressive offense, turnovers and fouls occurred frequently. The first half ended with a score of 16-15, with Bulldogs in the lead.

At halftime, Junior Bulldogs in grades K-6 accompanied the cheer squad, followed by a raffle drawing from the Pink Ribbon Club and a performance of “Careless Whisper” from the jazz team.

The gap between the scores widened to 30-18 with Bulldogs in the lead by the end of the third quarter. However, Northwood High caught up rapidly during the fourth quarter. With just 9.6 seconds remaining in the game, Northwood High scored a two-pointer that left the score at 39-40 in an extremely close loss for the Bulldogs.

“Next time, I’d like us to improve on late-game situations,” junior and co-captain Jeffrey Chen said. “We need to be able to handle some pressure. When the other team is going on a scoring run, our defense needs to be able to stop it.”

Boys’ basketball coach Brian Smith hopes the team will not let this defeat discourage them from finishing the season strong and working towards their long-term goals.

“We have two more games, one game at Woodbridge and one game at home against Irvine next week,” Smith said. “If we can stay around 500 for our record, we have a chance of making it to CIF playoffs. That’s our goal, to make it to CIF playoffs in our first year.”