BISV Varsity Boys Basketball Season Finale Win Against Apostles Lutheran Falcons by 26 Points!
The BISV Bobcats Varsity team beat Apostles Lutheran 70-44. In their last game as Bobcats, the BISV seniors certainly showed up as the Bobcats’ three captains combined for 49 points in BISV’s blowout win.
BISV jumped to an early 31-7 lead in the 1st quarter led by forward and co-captain Michael “Mikey” Hoppner’s amazing play. He had a variety of buckets ranging from fast break layups to contested threes as he finished tied for the team lead with 20 points. In addition to his scoring clinic, Mikey’s quick hands racked up four steals, maintaining the team’s momentum and adding to their lead. His contribution was backed up by co-captain Aryan Baldua when he said that “as a team, [Michael] glues us together.”
Fellow forward and co-captain Sidharth “Sid” Surapaneni also put on a show as he scored 20 points in his last game as a Bobcat. Sid dominated the paint, leading the game in post-scoring as he took over in the 2nd half. In addition to the paint, Sid showed his versatility as he knocked down two threes and two free throws, proving that nobody could stop him. On the defensive end, Sid was a menace. He locked down the paint with 4 blocks and 2 steals in his final game as a Bobcat.
Co-captain guard Aryan Baldua also played a great game, scoring threes on offense and gathering multiple steals on defense. Aryan’s passing ability shone in this game as he led the team in assists and took care of the ball. He got his teammates involved in both the half court and in transition, enabling Mikey, Sid, and the rest of the team to score.
Coming off the bench, the young Bobcat backcourt duo of Robert Ji and Justin Wang had 6 points each. Despite missing his first shot, Justin showed his confidence as he did not shy away from the ball and immediately knocked down two straight threes, including an amazing contested deep three at the end of the first half. Robert didn’t shy away from contact as he drove in and scored a great and-one layup. In total, he knocked down a layup through contact, a free throw, and a three.
On the other side, Falcons forward Asa H. took over for his team, scoring a team high 18 points from all over the court. Asa got off to a hot start as he knocked down five straight points, but the Bobcat defense seemed to be unfazed as they locked down the Apostles team after. Asa’s high scoring night did come with some struggles as he went 30% from the field due to the great Bobcat defense.
This was a great game on defense from BISV. They had a total of 14 steals with Akshay, Aryan, Rudro, and Sid each getting two steals. Aiden and Thomas each had one steal, with Michael leading with an amazing four steals.
Although this was a great showing from the Bobcat team, the players agreed that there were things to improve for next year. Following a great start, BISV stepped off of the gas both on offense and defense as the Falcons outscored them in the half. Nevertheless, this was a win to be proud of and a memorable final game for the seniors.
There were a lot of memorable moments for the players and fans to enjoy. First, Coach Perez did a great job with the lineups as he put in seniors Sid and Mikey with their younger junior brothers Suhaas and Thomas. Those two are passing the torch down and it was great to see them play on the floor together. BISV was packed for this game and it got super loud when Mikey had a great behind the back pass to his brother Thomas for a layup on transition. The brotherly chemistry was not missed in this game and the crowd hyped up the moment perfectly.
The crowd getting involved didn’t stop. On a crazy athletic layup, Rudro drew a foul and put the ball in. At the freethrow line he got ‘MVP’ chants and this was an amazing moment. Both Coach Perez and the Seniors were able to create many highlights and memories in their final game together.
In our postgame interview with the team, it was all fun and games but when we asked about how it felt to be moving on to the next chapters of their lives and not being close to home, Sid said “that’s way too deep man”. Indeed it is, no doubt it would be hard for the seniors to handle the emotions of going to college and putting the amazing 4 years of high school they had at BISV Independent Silicon Valley.
A strong first half led to a 26 point blowout victory for the Bobcats. Supported by Aryan’s great passing and perimeter shooting, fellow seniors Michael and Sidharth led the team in scoring with 20 points each. It was a great way to finish the season as the BISV Bobcat varsity basketball team finished at 9-4 on the season.
Post-game interview with Sid, Aryan, and other members of BISV:
VarsityGame4PostGameWithBasis.mp3
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Download ZIP • 3.01MB
Post-game interview with Apostles away player Asa:
VarsityG4AsaAwayPlayer.mp3
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Download ZIP • 1.45MB
BISV Junior Varsity Boys Basketball Convincing Win in Final Game Against Granada Islamic High School
Despite offensive woes from both sides, the junior varsity game between the BISV Bobcats and Granada Islamic turned out to be an exciting matchup. Throughout the game, Granada Islamic was right behind the Bobcats, even bringing the deficit to within 3 before BISV pulled away in the 2nd half.
Star guard Bretton L. had 14 points, multiple rebounds, and a steal as the Bobcats defeated Granada 51 to 32. When asked in a post game interview: what went well for him, he said “I just played well with my team… It was a team effort”. Samuel emerged and had a great night for himself putting up 6 points – 5 of them in the first half. We talked to him during halftime and he modestly noted, “I think I’m doing okay… I think I’m getting my open shots, I guess I gotta keep hitting them”.
The first half from BISV, led by guard William C., was played with an incredible floor game. He only had 6 points for the day but got his teammates involved racking up many assists. Despite the great play in the opening two quarters, the lead was only 23-16 because of Granada’s hot streak from beyond the arc in the 2nd quarter.
Going into the second half, the Bobcats were focused and expanded their lead right away. BISV got to a double digit lead within minutes of the start of the second half. Granada’s continuous poor shot selection being the numerous threes they took brought them down in the end. Granada’s “star player” put up almost twenty three attempts, leading even the referee to say that Granada was taking way too many threes and trying to be like Stephen Curry.
BISV Junior Varsity had a day and all the players should receive their props. Despite coming off the bench today, Ethan showed how good of a shooter he is by hitting 66% of his threes finishing with a solid 6 points. Also, his defense was solid as he got 2 steals which both led to transition buckets. Antony, Karthik, and Sanjeev all put up 4 points each with great efficiency.
Every BISV player did their role with almost the whole roster putting up points on the stat sheet. A great second quarter from Granada Islamic made it interesting, but in the end, the Bobcat defense combined with Granada’s poor shooting in the 2nd half led to a blowout victory for BISV. It was an incredible day for BISV and a great way to end the season for the junior varsity squad.
For full play by play live commentary and interviews head to: https://open.spotify.com/show/1cQIELv3VZJerc3SJQ4W3s?si=f3fd4549befd4732
