multimedia by Gabby Caponecchi
Tomorrow night, East’s biggest basketball game will take place, playing the number one team in Missouri. Tomorrow at 7:00 p.m., the varsity boys basketball team will be playing their well-known, out-of-conference rival: Rockhurst High School.
“Everybody comes out to these games, and they like to see the game, obviously, because it’s Rockhurst and East,” senior point guard for East, Tony Friends said.
The Lancers will be taking on the Hawklets, who have not been defeated this season — and East currently has a record of eight wins and five losses. However, East has been on a winning streak of six games and they are prepared for Friday.
Throughout the season, the Lancers have been improving their performance. According to varsity coach Shawn Hair, the team has been playing great and are ready to face the number one team in Missouri.
“We’ve won six games in a row,” Hair said. “We just won the McPherson tournament and beat Mcpherson. That’s almost impossible to do. It was our first team championship at McPherson since 2007, so the kids have been playing great.”
Senior and center for East, Declan Connley, thinks that by disregarding the statistics, and working on perfecting plays, and even blasting loud cheers through speakers during practice to prepare for the game, the varsity team has put themselves in a position for success.
“If we play how we’ve been playing, like, good basketball, we have just as good a chance as anybody,” Connley said.
Along with physical preparation, there is also a mentality factor. According to junior Nick Arensberg, point guard for East, it is important to not focus on all that relies on the game in order to perform well on Friday night. Arensberg has played Rockhurst three times in his years at East, and always focuses on the benefits of playing good competition instead of stressing about all of the pressure.
“I have been doing what I always do. I stay focused on practicing and try to block out all the talk about the game,” Arensberg said.
As the school buzzes with conversation, it brings up Rockhurst’s statistics of 18 wins and zero losses. But in this case, the rankings and statistics don’t matter.
According to Friends, regarding East’s record this season, Rockhurst may come out thinking they’re the best and underestimating East, giving East the opportunity to win.
“I think the game could actually go very well,” Arensberg said. “Rockhurst is probably thinking that they will blow us out, but if we go in playing hard, we could catch them off guard and leave with a win.”