One week after taking their first loss of the season, the boys varsity basketball team responded with a 55-52 defeat of the Blue Valley North Mustangs. After BVN took an early 1-0 lead, senior guard Jamicheal Morgan ripped the ball away from a BVN guard on the next possession and raced down the court for a dunk, contributing two of his 11 points on the night. Morgan said that steal set the tone for the night and was something the team keyed in on this week in practice.

“The big emphasis this week was locking in on defense,” Morgan said. “All week in practice that’s all we worked on.”

Head coach Ed Fritz said he thought the team came out with a better start than in last week’s game against Bishop Miege.

“We came out pretty hard,” Fritz said. “We did a really good job of attacking the basket in the first half.”

After leading at the half, 32-19, BVN went on an early run 7-3 run in the first 2:39 of the third quarter. Junior forward Parker Braun helped BVNW withstand the run, opening the second half with the first eight points for BVNW. Despite having no points at the half, Braun finished with 12 points for the Huskies.

“In the second [half] I just was going to the open spots and they were looking for me,” Braun said.

Fritz said he thought Braun’s emergence as a scoring threat poses a huge threat for the Huskies. While the Huskies offense went quiet down the stretch, Fritz said the defense stepped up to close out the game.

“We had a couple really big stops there at the end of the game, so I’m happy with that,” Fritz said. “Anytime you can beat Blue Valley North it’s a good day.” 

The boys basketball team is back in action Friday Jan. 6 at Blue Valley High.