Elite Basketball Diary-Ben Batash Edition #2

What’s up basketball world! Since my last entry we’ve played three games. Our first game was against Roosevelt, which is actually the great Dr. J’s alma mater. They weren’t that strong as we blew them out by 25 points. Our second game was against Bethpage which was also a weak team as we won by 17 despite the fact I thought we played down to the competition. 

            Then finally we had our first real challenge. For this part of Long Island it is like a Duke vs. Unc matchup. It was Great Neck North vs. Great Neck South. While no one would consider this equal to a Brooklyn PSAL rivalry, for us it’s one of the biggest games of the year. The gym was packed, seemingly all students of both schools attended. In fact, it was actually televised on MSG Varsity. As for the game itself, we were so pumped up, I actually thought it worked against us. We had the worst half we played all year trailing 30-15 at halftime. In the second half our energies seemed to work more in our favor as we picked up defensively, but we just never seemed to get over the hump. I managed to hit a three to cut into a six to three point lead with 10 seconds to go. We couldn’t get the steal, so we had to foul immediately. They hit there free throws and managed to close out the game. It was a tough loss for us but I think this will make us better prepared for our next game which is against Floral Park which may be the toughest team in our league.  

            I’ll get back at you guys in a few. Happy Holidays to all!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Sincerely, Ben Batash