January 9-10

Thursday evening: back at McCaskey as the week's basketball gauntlet continued. This night featured the makeup game from the previous Friday against Warwick. With this game positioned as it was the coaching staff was concerned about it being a "trap" game and for most of the evening they were spot on. Warwick is one of those PITA programs to play against, no matter the record they are never an easy opponent. JPM won the game 61-53 as Kobe Gantz and La'Detrius Sibley scored 18 apiece, Antanee Pinkard added ten to round out the double-figures brigade. It was an important win but as the coaches noted after the game it was more a matter of survival than victory. On Friday the long week ended as Hempfield visited for the final game of the league's first half. The lethargy of the previous night was nowhere to be seen on this occasion, Hempfield-McCaskey games have historically been must-see. Tyler Owens led JPM with 17, Antanee Pinkard had 16, Kobe Gantz added 13 and Randolph Speller scored 12 but it all meant little as Hempfield won on this night 75-68. Perhaps the fatigue of four games in five days was a factor (Hempfield did not play on Thursday) but in the post-game Coach Powell would not use that as an excuse. He told the team to stay in and rest on Saturday, the next practice would be on Monday. The club's mark stands at 6-2 in the league, 7-6 overall. The coming week features a return to normal with a home game on Tuesday, a road game on Friday and some quality practice time in-between. Take care, thanks for reading.