Park lost their away game against Benilde-St. Margarets 68-78 and kept the game close until the end Jan. 14. The team started off shaky in the first half but kept the score close enough to stay in the game. In the second half, the team was looking to come back. The Red Knights held their lead until the end and defeated Park in a tight game.
Head coach Arsenio Richardson said he was proud of the team’s effort and that they’re taking steps in the right direction to have a successful remainder of the season.
“It was a team effort today—even though we lost, they’re the number one team in the state for AAA and once we settled in, we did good things. Josh (Rickord) came out of his shell today defensively, something that we needed, and then Matthew (Johnson) did a lot for us offensively,” Richardson said. “Overall, all (of) the guys that went in gave us something, so that was nice to see. We just have to continue to build on that throughout the season.”
Junior Jonah Schwab said he had a rough start to his game, but eventually, his performance improved as the game progressed. He said once the team improved its defense, it was easier to be successful offensively.
“I started off a little shaky and had a couple of turnovers, but then in the second half, I got my confidence back and hit a couple of threes,” Schwab said. “As a team, we played some solid defense and got a lot of steals and stops.”
Senior Cleo Mulfinger said he knows what the team needs to work on in the next game and that if they make those improvements, they will know how to be successful later in the season.
“I would say (what we need to work on is) finishing the games, finishing strong and staying in it until the buzzer goes off (and) having a stronger start,” Mulfinger said. “We fell behind in the first half and having a good start will make it easier when we get tired in the second half.”
Richardson said the team practiced a lot to prepare for the game. He said he bases his coaching off of film from previous games, basing his coaching strategy on how the other team played previously.
“In practice, we watched a lot of film and drilled our defense. We play this team twice a year, so we know them pretty well. We just watched films to understand their tendencies and to know their players,” Richardson said. “We know how they’re going to play and how their coaches think, so we just have to go out there and perform.”
Mulfinger said the team was on the same page going into the game and that defense was the main focus of their strategy.
“The team worked on a lot of defense in practice—we knew defense leads to offense, and that was sort of our strategy going into the game,” Mulfinger said. “We did a lot of different drills, like shell drills, to work on it, and we could see the results of our work tonight.”
According to Schwab, Park found its rhythm in the second half, stayed in the game until the very end and improved their teamwork.
“We came together as a team in the second half and did not fold. We kept the game competitive,” Schwab said. “Even though we were down 10 points a couple of times in the game, we kept fighting.”
Mulfinger said his goals for the rest of the season are to advance in sections, do well in their conference and improve teamwork and chemistry.
“Our goal is to win the conference championship, hopefully win our section and go to state,” Mulfinger said. “The team has a lot of work to do if we want to get there, but we have a lot of games left, time to improve and get closer as a team.”
Schwab said the team has time to keep improving and will work hard daily. He said he believes that with the right practice, he knows that the hard work will start to pay off, in the form of results the team needs.
“Moving forward, we just need to keep getting better every day. As the coach was saying, we keep taking steps in the right direction,” Schwab said. “Eventually, those are gonna turn the winds in our favor, and we’re gonna start winning.”
Park’s boys basketball team plays their next game against Waconia at 7 p.m. Jan. 16 at home.
Orioles fall short to the Red Knights
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Sophomore Matthew Johnson shoots a three-pointer Jan. 14. Park lost to Benilde-St. Margret’s 68-78.
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Arjuna Murugesan, Echo Staffer
I’m Arjuna Murugesan. I am a sophomore and this is my 1st year on echo. I am a staffer this year. In my free time I play soccer and guitar. I’m looking forward to working with all of the new editors this year.