The Fremont Firebirds varsity boys’ basketball team was going for the season sweep of the Monta Vista Matadors on Jan. 29. With a road victory already under its belt, the team was expected to win again on its home floor. After all, the Firebirds’ previous win saw the team with an impressive 32-20 halftime lead that proved insurmountable for the Matadors.
The rematch, however, was far from an impressive showing by the favored Firebirds. Sloppy turnovers, lack of rebounding and poor clock awareness led to an underwhelming first half. While Fremont managed to overcome a seven-point halftime deficit to tie the game in the third quarter, the team would get no further, eventually falling to the Matadors by a 48-40 final.
“I think when it gets later in the season, it’s harder to maintain energy,” remarked Fremont Head Coach Tony Kikuta. “We’re kind of in the home stretch here, and over the course of the season, the kids get worn down a little bit. That might have been a bit of a factor tonight.”
“I think it was more the energy tonight that wasn’t there,” echoed Fremont senior Subhan Kunwar. “[Monta Vista] played better, too; I think they wanted it more than us at the start.”
“We just didn’t play like we should play,” added junior Kai Daron. “We didn’t hustle as much as last time. Last time, we wanted it a lot more than this time. We just didn’t come out with the same energy. It’s just one of those things, it’s difficult to come out with tons of energy every single game.”
Daron and Kunwar were two players for Fremont who stood out offensively in the loss. In the second half when the Firebirds rallied and eventually tied the score in the fourth quarter, it was the combination of tough inside baskets from Kunwar and fastbreak transition layups from Daron that helped lead the way.
“Kai is a great player; his speed and athleticism makes him a huge asset to the team,” praised Kunwar on Daron. “The way our offense works with Kai, one of us gets a rebound, and Kai leaks out, and then either myself or Kishan [Shah] are able to use our long arms to launch the ball down court for Kai to get the layups.”
With Kunwar, Shah, Daron and freshman Kota Xu, Fremont’s roster has a good mix of size, skill, rim protection and outside shooting. The team has the ingredients to improve upon its 5-4 league record and make a push for a playoff spot. Cleaning up the mistakes and continuing to learn from experience will be key for the relatively inexperienced squad.
“Really, one of the challenges that we face is that we lost our top nine guys from last year,” noted Kikuta. “Everybody that’s playing just hasn’t played a lot of varsity basketball. I’m starting a freshman at point guard and two kids who didn’t start playing basketball until they were sophomores. Just not a lot of experience playing organized, higher level basketball.”
