Blake's JV Basketball Team Starts Off Their Season Strong

- The team in a timeout (Photo Courtesy of Blake Athletics)

Blake’s JV Basketball Team has had an incredible start to their season with a record of 9-2 under third year head coach Kenneth Prather.

The team's season started off really strong with a big win in a tough match up with Good Counsel High School. They then destroyed rival Springbrook High School and took care of business in their 74-67 win against rival Paint Branch. The team then went on to win the next three games to start the season 6-0.

Unlike other JV teams that Coach Prather has coached in the past, this one has a lot of depth. The team has a 12 man rotation of players. “Most teams only play seven or eight., which gives us an advantage because we play a fast and up-tempo style. Most games we wear teams down,” Coach Prather said about his team compared to others in the county.

The Bengals JV squad has a lot of speed on the team so they wear down their opponents by roaring down the court during games. “ Last year, a lot of players were slow to move to the ball ... This year we are pushing the tempo more,” Sophomore point guard Jared Sabin says.

Coach Prather prepares the team before each game based on their opponent. In their game against Damascus, the team had the challenge of facing a player much taller than Blake's big men There was a really big height difference between the two teams, but the Bengals handled this just fine. The team won the game 74-62. “last game the team had a big man who was 6’5, so we had to plan around him to try to get him out of the picture and go up and down. He will never have the chance to get set unless what we did, which was take him out of the game and we won,” Sabin said.

While the Bengals have won nine games, they have lost two as well. This could be because of their lack of big men. “Our biggest weaknesses is we really don’t have a lot of height and physically strong players that can bang inside and get rebounds,” Prather said.

While the Bengals did lose those two games, they were only by a combination of five points which is very impressive. After those loses the team was able to pick up where they left off by winning their next three straight.

The team’s next game is Tuesday, January 23 at Walter Johnson High School. Come out and support the JV Blake Basketball Squad as they continue their outstanding season.

(Photos Courtesy of Blake Athletics)