On the 5th of December, EF Academy’s boy basketball team faced off with Flintridge Prep in a highly anticipated matchup. Going into the game, both teams carried vastly different records; EF being 1-7 and Flintridge Prep being 6-1, but the energy shown by the teams in their warm-up showed no sign of the historical context of this game.

At the tip-off, Flintridge gained possession and established their dominance early, making crisp passes and setting up corner threes, as well as having their center prove a threat in the paint.

EF struggled, being pressed after baskets, losing the ball in transition, and having their offense rely exclusively on driving the ball into the paint. These factors led to a halftime score of 50-6 in favor of Flintridge Prep.

The second half followed in the footsteps of the first. While EF scored twice as many points in this half, they struggled on defense and did not change much offensively. After the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard showed a win for Flintridge Prep: 88-18.

After the game was over, the teams met in the middle and shook hands, and at that point, I saw something that surprised me. While the other team in an unorganized, joyful way slowly headed towards the locker room, our team grouped up and supported each other whilst walking into the locker room. They walked onto the court together, suffered a tough defeat together, and walked off the court still together, which in my opinion deserves a lot of respect.