On Friday, Dec. 12 the varsity boys basketball team took on Santa Fe Christian. With a new coaching staff, the boys have been dedicating numerous hours each day to improve their skills in order to prepare for a successful season. After competing in a challenging tournament, rather than letting it get the best of them, the boys remained undeterred as they were excited to be back on the court.

“We have been playing a lot of tournaments lately, but I am excited to see how it goes,” senior Will Burke said. “We have continued improving and even though we are off to a rough start, I think we can get a lot better.”

The game started off with a basket from Santa Fe Christian, however Junior Lucas Gladstein quickly scored the first and second baskets for Carlsbad. With Santa Fe Christian in the lead and less than four minutes to go in the first quarter, Will Burke scored a basket, bringing the game to a tie. By the end of the first quarter the score was 14- 9 Lancers. Into the second quarter, Burke starts it off strong with another basket. After baskets from multiple players, the second quarter ended with Santa Fe Christian in the lead by one point.

“There’s always hope. Regardless of the score some times, you always have to make it respectful and keep playing until the game is over,” Gladstein said.

The third and fourth quarter remained close. The rest of the game consisted of a basket scored by Carlsbad followed by one from Santa Fe Christian and so on. Entering the fourth quarter with a score of 44- 39 Santa Fe Christian, the lancers gave it everything they had.

“We look to be aggressive and come out with a tough mindset,” Gladstein said. “We also need to be loud because that is what our game is. We are an energetic team and we have to perform.”

The final score was 61-53 Santa Fe Christian.

“We played a lot better than we did last week,” Burke said. “We are looking forward to playing any team in league. I like playing all those teams because they are tough and that is good for us.”

Even though they did not pull out a win on Friday, the boys basketball team plan to use this as momentum to push them through their future games as they enter their season. Be sure to go out and support the men’s basketball team as they compete in the Under Armour Holiday Classic on Dec. 26 at Carlsbad high school.