Invigorated by recent league wins and motivated by the looming end of the season and CCS, boys basketball has blazed through the first half of its league games. The Eagles are undefeated in league, with their 6-0 record comprised of several big wins, including ones over last year’s league champion, Palo Alto, and rival Mountain View.
With just a handful of league games left in the season, CCS looms.
“Recently, we have been playing very well and as a well-oiled unit,” junior Justin Cabute said.
Playing as a “well-oiled unit” has catapulted Los Altos into first in league, with its nearest competitors holding relatively unimpressive 4-3 records.
Leading the Eagles onto the court is coach Bob MacFarlane.
“Coach MacFarlane has been preaching to us since the beginning of the season about selflessness and putting the team before yourself,” Justin said. “This is our system and if we play with this mindset on offense and defense, no team can beat us.”
Adherence to this coaching philosophy has translated into unblemished league success. In a big win against former league champions Palo Alto, Los Altos, after a close three quarters, put 24 in the net to the Vikings’ 13 in the last quarter to secure a 68-60 win.
The Eagles’ strong back-half made another appearance in their dominating 53-38 performance against rival Mountain View, in which Los Altos went on an 11-1 run in the third quarter and maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.
The Eagles’ performance in a later game against Los Gatos High School started out slow, but an inspiring speech by MacFarlane at halftime jolted the Eagles back into focus, who, after significantly ramping up their offense, outscored the Wildcats by 18 points in the second half to secure a 45-37 win.
Also contributing to Los Altos’ determination to succeed in league: several close losses in pre-season. In one of their earlier games against Bellarmine in the Monta Vista tournament championship games, the Eagles lost by a single point. Although the Eagles had beaten Bellarmine before, the loss only served to reinforce their determination.
“The loss only made us hungrier and strengthened our drive to work harder and harder in practice,” Justin said. “Because of our pre-season we have learned all the lessons that have prepared us for league.”
The Eagles haven’t let their success get to them, however. They remain steadfast in taking league games one at a time.
“Just because we are undefeated it doesn’t mean we can take any breaks from being focused every single day in practice,” Justin said. “Every practice, every game, we are full throttle, we seize every moment we have and lay our hearts out on the floor.”
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