The varsity basketball team beat Eastside Memorial 97-46 Tuesday night to open district play. Seniors Harrison Brown and Demarcus King each scored 19 points.

“It feels great,” King said. “After we have had some tough losses to some good teams. It helps us come to district and know we have the ability to pound on anyone which is a good confidence booster.”

The Knights never trailed in the game and jumped out to a 43-21 lead at half time. In the second half, Eastside out scored McCallum but were not able to close the gap.

“We need to work on intensity,” King said. “We didn’t have that much intensity in the game, especially in the second half. We need to be hyped up and treat every game like we are playing LBJ.”

Senior Jake Holmes contributed 16 points. King, who came off the bench, said the team’s goal is to go undefeated in district and go all the way to state.

“When we lost to San Marcos, it showed that we cannot underestimate any team,” King said. “Even when we are up big, we can’t assume we are going to win since we were up by close to 30 in that game and ended up letting them come back and win.”

According to King, coach Daniel Fuentes has been pushing the team to never give up and never give excuses.

“I want to be the best teammate I can be whether I am on the bench or on the court,” King said. “I just want to help out the team.”

McCallum’s next home game is against Reagan on Dec. 19.