The BHS boys varsity basketball team started their season off with a home game against Troy High School on Dec. 7. The starting five players juniors, Ian Smith and Hunter Robertson, as well as seniors Ben Maurice, Asa Schnackel, and Zack Vigliotti gave us a good headstart for the game. The game started with BHS basketball fans at the edge of their seats. The fans were going crazy as the boys were breathing heavily and working hard. The score was tied until Troy shot a layup which led to the bears working even harder. The score was 6-9 with a couple of minutes left of the first quarter, but junior Tamir Runinkevich got the team a three-pointer leading the game to another tie. The first quarter buzzer went off and the score was 9-9. The crowd was shaking with anxiety wanting the bears to take the dub during the first quarter.

The star point guard Ian Smith was going crazy with his ball-handling down the court. Smith personally felt that he played really well. He stated, “the point guard’s job is to control the whole team and lead the plays.” Being a point guard there is a lot of responsibility of taking on leadership for the team. His passing to his teammates really helped the team get the points that they needed. When the tension was high, Smith felt the most stressful part of the game was the defense, As he felt that his team could have done better on the defensive side.
The game was back and forth on the scoreboard between teams. Vigliotti, with his outstanding hops, got the majority of the rebounds throughout the game. The sweat dripped from the players’ faces. The team was getting tired, but that didn’t stop them. They were grinding until the last seconds before halftime. Their hard work paid off because they finally got a break at halftime with the bears in the lead with a score of 24-19.
Both teams’ faces were beet red starting the fourth quarter of the game. Robertson’s defense was amazing; he wouldn’t let the opponents get points. He plays power forward, meaning he has to guard the second tallest player on the opposing team. Although he felt he was struggling on the offensive side, his defense made up for the struggles. According to Robertson, the most stressful part of the game was in the last quarter with two minutes remaining because “it was a really close game and two minutes can feel like ten just waiting for the time to go off. [Trying to] get the win builds tension and stress.” Even though it was a stressful time, the team took the lead with a score of 54-45. All in all the bears played very well and won their first game of the season!