Peninsula Boys Frosh/Soph Team Loses to Mighty Loyola

The small and feisty Peninsula frosh/soph team came into the 3rd game of the season feeling pretty confident that they would be able to compete against the taller and stronger Loyola basketball team. Peninsula had just beaten their last two opponents and were looking to improve on their performance. The Panthers took the floor and after a few times up and down the court the Panthers appeared to be somewhat shell-shocked. The Loyola team, which was much bigger and stronger than Peninsula, was scoring at will and they were getting rebound after rebound on the offensive boards. The Panthers made the crucial mistake of trying to out jump Loyola instead of boxing them out. Often times there were only 2 Panthers inside in the scrums while the others were on the perimeter watching. Loyola jumped out to a 10-6 lead at the end of the 1st quarter.

The 2nd quarter began much like the first one with the Panthers missing their box out assignments and then add to that a slew of turnovers where the Panthers could not get the ball over half court. The inexperience and lack of size was becoming quite evident the achilles heal of the Panthers. Due to the constant pressure put on by Loyola with their full court press they forced Peninsula into numerous turnovers which Loyola converted into easy baskets. The score at halftime had Loyola up 24-8.

The Panthers never recovered from the first half beating and the second half of the game continued with much of the same. The Panthers continued to struggle boxing out the taller and stronger Loyola team and they were still continuing to add to the 15 first half turnovers. The Panthers now were also failing to get back on defense and Loyola's big men would rebound the ball and race down the court for easy baskets. The Panthers managed to score only 7 points in the 3rd quarter while surrendering 17. The Panthers trailed at the end of the 3rd quarter 41-15.

The 4th quarter began and Peninsula started to show a little light that they were willing to run their plays the right way and they even began the quarter boxing out the taller and stronger Loyola team. This unfortunately for the Panthers did not last very long. The Panthers again struggled to get back on defense which led to numerous fast-break baskets by Loyola and the Panthers were outscored again 13-9 in the 4th quarter. The final score was 54-24 in favor of Loyola. The Panthers play on Saturday at 6:00 PM for 3rd place in the tournament. Hopefully, they learned some things from the game against Loyola and they will come out focused and determined for today's game.

The Panthers were led by Jacob Salceda (5 points, 4 steals, 1 assist), David Lam (5 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal) and Kevin Uyesugi (4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals).