On Monday, the varsity boys basketball team went toe to toe against the East View Patriots at Cedar Ridge High School as part of this year’s basketball bi-district playoffs.

Despite the fact that senior JD Jordan controlled the opening tip, East View started the game on a 6-0 run interrupted by senior David Houston’s basket for the Knights’ first points of the game. After the Patriots scored five unanswered points, senior Kalab Manor hit the Knights’ first 3-pointer assisted by freshman Ethan Plummer. The Knights and Patriots traded baskets for the rest of the quarter, which ended 15-9 in favor of East View.

To start the second quarter, sophomore shooting guard George Brode recovered from a turnover by regaining possession and making a 3-point shot. Field goals by Jordan and Manor gave the Knights seven points for the quarter. The Patriots scored 11 to extend their lead to double digits at the half: 26-16.

The second half started off promising for the Knights as junior point guard Finn Corrigan stole the ball, and East View returned the favor with two early steals for their own. Two quick baskets by a seven-point flurry by Houston (two field goals and one 3-pointer) and a late bucket by Corrigan produced much-needed offense for the Knights. While the Knights scored nine in the quarter, the Patriots put up 20 to more than double their lead in just one quarter.

A Manor 3-pointer just 13 seconds into the fourth quarter provided a spark of hope that the Knights were going to make a game of it, but the Patriots extinguished the attempted rally with a pair of free throws. A Corrigan free throw, followed by a Jordan field goal, assisted by Manor, followed by a J.D. Owens free throw.

The Patriots decided to run the clock down with a comfortable lead, slowing down both Patriot and Knight offenses. East View did stop dribbling the clock out for one final break to the basket for a final bucket with less than 30 seconds remaining. Senior forward Ro’Land Travis scored the game’s final bucket.

The players watched the final seconds run off the clock, knowing that the result of the game was inexorable. The Knights lost with a final score of 62-34.  The disappointing final result does not diminish the larger truth that the team enjoyed a successful 2022-2023 season. 

“I would say [this season] was a success,” Corrigan told MacJournalism. “We were second in district, beat LBJ once and we made the playoffs. [It was] 100% better than last year, where we were the fifth seed in district and didn’t make the playoffs. Obviously, we definitely could have done way better, but it was definitely an improvement from last year.”

For East View, the win was a huge deal. The Patriots qualified for the playoffs for the second time in program history, and the playoff win gave the school its first-ever bi-district title. The road is likely to end in the next round when the Patriots go up against the A&M Consolidated Tigers, who are ranked among the top 80 basketball teams in the state. 

The Knights meanwhile will look ahead to next season and the challenge of maintaining or improving their level of play despite losing seven seniors to graduation. 

“Personally, I’m just going to spend lots of time this summer and off-season working on my shot at attacking the basket,” Corrigan said. “I have really high hopes for next year, we just need to be ready.”

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