The Shoemaker Bugle

By Carlos Lopez

As teams in the NBA season continue to dominate, our JGHS boys’ varsity basketball team has also been brewing up a storm of their own.

As of today (December 9), Glenn has gone 2-5 during their pre-season campaign (not counting many successful tournament games) starting with their season-opening win versus Bassett High by a score of 66-43. Armando Arreola was the leading scorer with an impressive 29-point performance accompanied by Sebastian Figueroa’s notable all-around performance.

I had a chance to talk with the team’s head coach, Sam Abebe, after their first win. The following is our Q&A session:

Q: How do you feel about tonight’s game?

A: “Obviously I’m glad we got the win. But as a coach who wants excellence and wants perfection, I thought that we struggled a little bit: not understanding what we needed to do to break that zone that they played all night. But at the end of the day, I have to understand that we got a win and move on and come back tomorrow and just get ready to work again tomorrow.”

Q: Who or what stood out to you the most?

A: Armando Arreola. The whole game he just played with high intensity; it’s just unfortunate that other guys couldn’t match his intensity. But for his first game here at John Glenn, for him to play that well and be able to score tonight and pretty much be the best offensive player for them all night, I thought he did a great job; he stood out to me the most and I’m proud of how he played.

Q: What should we expect for the rest of the season?

A: “I mean, on paper, this team is better than last year’s team–we’re deeper, we have more guys. But again, it’s a mental thing with this team; today felt like a loss even though we won but how are we going to come back tomorrow? Are our leaders going to step up and say something, or are we just going to keep letting the mediocrity fester? That’s the thing. But we’ll see; it’s early in the season obviously. I’m glad we got the win and we just got to move on now and look forward to Saturday.”

605-League play begins with a home game against Whitney on Wednesday, January 4.