Boys basketball finished off their season in style, with a win in the El Camino division at leagues against Wilcox and qualification for CCS. This is the first time the team has won the league since 2003.

The league victory came at the end of a tough season in which widespread illnesses and injuries often deprived the team of players. Despite these difficulties, the team managed to play well throughout the season, with several particularly difficult wins in pre-season games.

The CCS qualification came as the result of a bye—the qualifying team brackets were changed after Palo Alto High School played an ineligible player and was disqualified. LAHS took advantage of the bye and made it to the second round of CCS, where they finally lost to Leland in a close game.

“We came out hard and then we kind of lost focus, but then we came back to finish close,” senior Erik Johnson said.

Despite the CCS loss, the team feels that it is moving in the right direction, and hopes to move up to the more competitive De Anza league.

“We accomplished a lot,” Erik said. “Just because we lost CCS doesn’t mean the season went down the drain.”

Some of the team’s success this season can be attributed to excellent team chemistry.

“We all liked playing together,” senior Ben Kohl said. “In practice we were all able to work hard and push each other. This helped us play better in games.”

This year the team is graduating seven seniors, which could make next year’s season difficult. But the seniors think next year’s team will be able to continue their forward trend.

“The seniors this year set the grounds,” Erik said. “We showed the juniors and sophomores the competitiveness we bring.”

The team accomplished many things throughout the season, including tying their record score for playing against Lynbrook. But for the team,

“Winning leagues was definitely the season highlight,” Ben said.