Horizon Honors took the lead in the first quarter with a score of 10-9, but lost it for the rest of the game. The game began strong, with freshman Michael Keelen leading the team in the first quarter. Seniors Gabe Knippers and Stephen McCollum also largely contributed to the game, keeping the energy high and the intensity even higher. The team started out ready to play, with tons of energy. As they started to fall behind, however, their energy declined and their performance went downhill. As the game came to an end, the score was 33-35. The last minute of the game became extremely intense, as Horizon Honors was trying to score once more. Chandler Prep did not allow this to happen, and we lost the game.

After the game, Coach Henderson offered many reasons as to why they lost the game. He said, “You can’t want [to win] for four minutes out of the 32-minute game.” He also commented on the lack of defense from his team. To prepare for the next game against Gilbert Classical Academy on Wednesday, Dec. 5, Henderson needs his team to step it up if they want to win. They need to “dive for loose balls, step up hustling,” and overall increase their intensity.

Keelen agreed with his coach’s comments. He stated that “it was a tough game” and they needed more effort from everyone on the team. Although Keelen played well, he “could’ve been better,” and said every person on the team had some work to do.

McCollum was not as happy with his performance during the game. He said he played “terrible,” and needs to work on “hustling and finishing layups.” As a team, they all need to “practice harder, prepare better, and screw around less.”