Varsity Basketball

By Brad Mallory ‘24

Article from the Winter Carnival 2024 Hearth Issue

The 2023-2024 Eaglebrook Varsity basketball team has had an amazing start to the season. Our team consists of three Fifth Formers and nine Sixth Formers coming from all over the world. Our typical practice starts off with some quick ball handling and stretching. We then hop right into continuous 3 vs. 2s, sprinting up and down the court to help warm up our bodies for practice. After a short break and team talk, we move into “180 shooting.” This is one of my favorite drills, as it is based around shooting quickly and accurately. We split the team in half and have ten minutes to score 180 shots. Each side competes to finish faster than the other. Later on, we will shoot ten free throws and track our makes and misses. We report this number back to the coaches. The goal is to shoot over 70% as a team. Lastly, we scrimmage. This is the highlight of practice for most, and it often can get very competitive. This is due to the fact that the winning team will be able to choose which restaurant we will eat at during our next game. We then huddle up and break it down to conclude a great practice.

So far, the Varsity team is undefeated with an astounding record of 9-0. Our greatest victory so far was a historic victory over Rectory for the first time in the Eaglebrook’s history. We started the season with two back-to-back games vs Lawrence Boys Club. The first of the two games was incredibly tight in the end and even went on to overtime. We were able to win this game as well as the next to go to 2-0 on the season. This past weekend, the team, along with Eaglebrook’s Varsity Hockey team traveled to Phillips Exeter Academy for a weekend double header. We had a great time watching the hockey games when not playing our own games. The first of the two games that weekend was again against Lawrence Boys Club. We knew this would be another tight game and it was. Despite not playing our best, we were able to win by 5 points and keep the undefeated streak. We then rested and got ready to play Exeter the next day. Exeter was big but we were able to come out with the win. 

The Varsity Basketball team consists of Zeke Leiniz ’24(Captain), Michael Ervin ’24(Captain), Peter Lakey ’24, Harry Kim ’24, Eric Zhu ’24, Brad Mallory ’24, Evers Saleeby ’24, AJ Tanihaha ’24, Ryan Sims ’24, Zach Mackenzie ’25, Lemuel Vigo ’25, and Rasmus Ricci ’25. Coached by- Andrew Bedell, David Goodrow, and Sol Lakey.