Varsity boys’ basketball faced off against Terra Linda on January 17. Their late run wasn’t enough to better the opposition, as they lost 57-53 in an important road game and dropped their record to 1-5 in MCAL (now 1-6).

Terra Linda took an early first quarter 18-9 lead. “We are a three point shooting team, so that was our game plan coming in,” Terra Linda head varsity coach Steve Farbstein said. Starting in the second quarter, Tam improved their defense, helping them to mount a comeback. “When they held us [in that area] it really hurt our game, and you could see that in the score,” Farbstein said.

Tam went into the fourth quarter trailing 43-42. Terra Linda had the ball up one with 18 seconds left when junior Ben Harris had a key block, giving Tam a chance to go up. The ball went to junior Collin Galeste, who could not convert. Terra Linda took possession with 8.1 remaining on the clock, leading the Hawks to a 53-57 loss to the Trojans.

After the first quarter, the two teams matched each other well on many fronts. “We battled out there tonight and we just made one or two more plays than they did,” Farbstein said.

In the end, it came down to three point shooting and rebounding, which both fell into the advantage of the Trojans. “Turnovers were pretty even, both teams shot relatively well, both teams hit their free throws,” Tam’s head varsity coach Michael Coffino said. “I think they out hustled us on the glass, and that was the difference in the game.”