Taft’s bleachers were packed. The Lane fans were greatly outnumbered at Taft’s home court, but that did not stop them from taking a big win against their rivals.

  Head Coach Nicholas Logalbo saw his team improve to a 6-2 record with this hard fought Dec. 8 battle against the Eagles.  

  “We’re on the road, it’s a hostile environment, it was a packed gym. Probably too packed,” Logalbo said. ¨Anytime you play a conference game, it’s going to be a little more intense because the teams know each other so well.¨

  Taft was playing along with the energetic atmosphere from their crowd as well as taking advantage of Lane’s poor first half shooting and early foul trouble to gain the edge for most of the first half of the game.

  Senior forward Calvin Keyes, Div. 877, added a double-double to the victory with 13 points and 10 rebounds, helping Lane pull through its early struggles

  “We knew we weren’t shooting well and we knew eventually our shots were going to fall,” Keyes said. “After we saw the ball go through the net we started getting some more confidence and started playing better.”

  Taft came out on top after two quarters as they held a 26-18 lead at halftime.

  Coming back from halftime, Lane came alive with improved shot selection and sharp passing, putting them on a 10-2 run in the first two minutes of the third quarter, tying it up.

  “I just reminded them at halftime, number one, we weren’t playing our game, we were playing Taft’s tempo, not our tempo,” Logalbo said. “I told them, if we get a couple quick inside, you know, the lids going to come off, and we’re going to start seeing that ball go in.”

 Junior guard Jimmy Mulvaney, Div. 951, had an impact on this comeback, adding 13 points. Mulvaney did not miss from the three point line, making all three of his attempts.

 “For us to rally back, we just can’t try to do too much at one time, take every play one possession at a time and chip away as much as we can,” Mulvaney said.

 The rivalry game intensified even more after Logalbo received a technical foul in the third period.

 “It was an emotional thing,” Logalbo said, “I wanted to get their attention, I wanted to get their feedback on the call, and they weren’t giving me that feedback, so I thought I had to initiate the conversation.”

  The technical fueled the Eagles once again to gain the edge on Lane, as Taft ended the third period leading 36-34.

  “Against a rival school like Taft, the emotions are going to be high in the gym, there was a lot of tension in the gym,” Mulvaney said. “I try not to let it get the best of me, but sometimes the emotions will come out.”

 The close game brought the whole gym alive as the rivals battled this one out to the wire.

  “The crowds were crazy. It was definitely hard to focus at some points,” Keyes said. “Half of the crowd was Lane students, so it was nice to have that support.”

  Junior guard Michael Molloy, Div. 981, entered the fourth quarter on the verge of fouling out of the game with zero points and four fouls.

  After missing two free throws that could have given Lane a five point lead with a minute left, Molloy redeemed himself by hitting six consecutive free throws to give his team the victory.

  “I was pretty upset because I could have turned the game into a two possession game, and free throws should be an easy two points,” Molloy said. “I was able to hit six in a row because I just had to get past the mental block. I had to get the mindset that I was going to make the free throws and ignore the crowd and the pressure.”

  Molloy, who finished the fourth quarter with 14 points and 60 percent free throw shooting on 10 attempts, was Lane’s top scorer, ahead of Keyes and Mulvaney.