The AHS basketball team looks to build off of a close win against Wakefield and develop a win streak as they head into district play.
The team is coming off of a 57-55 win against Wakefield, that was decided by a game winning three point shot with three seconds left.
The game went back and forth the whole second half, but the Atoms pulled away at the end.
The Atoms shot 37 percent from the field, and 36 percent from three.
The team also grabbed 37 rebounds and had 15 assists.
“I thought our win against Wakefield was a great team effort. A lot of guys made big plays to help us come back and win that game,” boys varsity basketball coach Andrew Hypnar said. “We were down six points with a minute left and found a way to win. Shows how much fight our team has and how resilient they are. Was definitely nice to get one in the win column.”
The team has played in three games so far this season.
They lost in a close game against West Springfield 53-59, another close loss to C.D Hylton 60-67 and they got their first win of the season in their most recent game against Wakefield.
“The recent win was a must win game in my opinion because we didn’t want to be 0-3 early in the season. The team played well but there was some stuff we can improve on,” junior Danish Naveed said.
As the Atoms head into a very important stretch of games, it is important that the team works on improving what they need to win games.
“We can improve on doing the little things and paying attention to detail,” junior guard Leoule Yared said.
Along with the little things, there are some big parts of the team’s game that could use some improvement.
“I feel like the team needs to improve on our defense as a whole team and shutting down the other team’s big men,” Naveed said.
The Atoms are an undersized team, so it is important that they keep working on preventing teams from scoring in the post.
“I think some areas our team could really improve is consistency in rebounding and defense. We’re a great offensive team so if we can finally start to string together some stops on defense we can really start to create a larger point differential during the games,” Hypnar said.
AHS starts district play this week, as they play Lewis on Tuesday, and Hayfield on Friday.
Lewis is 1-1 so far this year, and are coming off of a 53-47 win against Robinson, so it’s crucial for the Atoms to prepare to take on the Lancers.
“We do a lot of things to prepare for all of our games. Our coaching staff scouts and watches film for our opponents. Making sure we have a game plan for anything they might throw at us. We spend a lot of time figuring out how to exploit the other teams’ weaknesses as well,” Hypnar said.
The season so far has not gone as well as the team would’ve hoped.
The Atoms sit at 1-2 right now, and are looking to find a winning record.
“So far the season has been a slow start for us, things didn’t go the way we wanted to so far but we’re starting to slowly improve on the things that can help us get several wins,” Naveed said.
Despite the slow start the team is optimistic about the rest of their season as they head into district play.
“I think there is a ton of potential for the team this year. Being 1-2 so far isn’t what we would have hoped for to start the season, but we have been doing a lot of great things and have a great foundation heading into district play starting this week,” Hypnar said.