By Kelly Mrofcza

St. Patrick’s High School gym was filled with people sporting similar shades of green and gold, but supporting two different basketball teams. The left side of the gym had people rooting for St. Pats as the right side supported the Lane’s Boy’s Varsity team in the second game of the state playoffs.

Lane started the game strong. They were up by one point at the end of the first half despite the fact that the St. Pat’s “stud section” was loudly chanting at them and singing songs during free throws.

“When we were doing well, the [St. Pat’s] chants just added fuel to my game,” said Sadzid Grahic, Div. 285.

The second half was not played as well as the first.

“We lost our confidence after we kept missing shot after shot. [St. Pats] kept making more baskets and it just went downhill,” said Eric Simmons, Div. 284.

The game ended with a final score of 55 to 31, ending Lane’s basketball season.

“We got away from everything that worked for us in the first half because we got comfortable. You can’t do that against a good team,” said Zach Calamus, Div. 264.

Although they lost, the team hopes to have generated some excitement about Lane’s basketball program.

“Everyone says that Lane isn’t a basketball school,” Calamus said. “We competed against every team this year and hopefully showed people Lane can be a basketball school.”

Simmons thinks this year’s team has been more successful than past years because players’ individual talents meshed well into a solid team.

The boys were disappointed to see their season come to an end, but look back on the season with some fond memories.

One of the most stressful games the team played faced was against Shurz High School, but it was also one of the most helpful.

“[Shurz] is team a that we should have beaten, but we played down to their level and lost, ”Grahic said.

With the help of their head coach, Mr. Logalbo, the team used the game as a motivational tool, getting them ready to face stiff competition in the state playoffs.

“[Logalbo] let us know that we could learn from our mistakes that game. After that, we wanted to prove to people that the loss was just a bump in the road and that we were better than that,” said Grahic.

Perhaps the most memorable event of the season was the team’s trip to Canada where they spent four days playing in a tournament.

“We played against a couple Canadian teams, shopped, and went to the movies. Just spending that much time with your best friends is something you won’t forget,” Calamus said.

A lot of the team’s success this year has to do with their team chemistry.

“There weren’t any cliques and none of the guys that were younger were looked at differently. We were all varsity players and a big family. Each guy accepted his role and excelled in that role,” Grahic said.

As the 2012 seniors leave their jerseys behind, next year’s team promises to continue to put Lane on the map as a formidable basketball school.

“We have a really good class of juniors coming up and the new seniors want to have the same season we did this year,” said Reid O’Neil, Div. 357.