The men’s varsity basketball team finished their preseason schedule with a 65-57 win against Little Rock Christian Academy on Nov 30th. This win brought the Cardinals to a 6-5 preseason record and pushed their rank to 79th in Texas.

Preseason matchups, such as Little Rock Christian Academy, Episcopal, and Beaumont, led to some big wins.

“Beaumont United was our senior night,” senior small forward Ejypt Gibbs said. “So it was definitely nice to get an energetic win.”

However, the Cardinals also experienced some tough losses in the preseason, falling short by 7 points in their game against St. Francis.

“A lot of our old teammates play for St. Francis — it was like a pride game,” Gibbs said.

Coming out of preseason with double the minutes played and nearly one thousand more points scored than the national average, of 1224 points, the Cardinals are more than prepared for the regular district season.

Moving into the Districts, the Cardinals expect to go undefeated for the 6th year in a row.

“We’re going undefeated for sure,” senior Anthony Andrews said.

Gibbs believes that the Cardinals have improved from last year.

“We’ve been working on our communication on and off the court and getting underclassmen involved, which was a huge weak point [in] past years,” Gibbs said.

Still, Andrews thinks the team needs more solidification; all players should be on the same page.

The preseason schedule also brought out stand-out players, including senior center Anthony Andrews, who averaged 17 points per game. Younger players, including sophomore point guard Jadarian Willams, also greatly impacted the game, averaging 8.8 points per game.

“JD is one of the younger players that come off the bench and change the game.” Gibbs said.
This season, the varsity boys face high expectations. With fresh talent and developed seniors, the team is determined to solidify their team for the future and finish with a strong season run.

“This season, we’re gonna make a statement,” Gibbs said, “we’re gonna make sure to be known.”