On Nov. 14, the Miami Palmetto Senior High varsity boys basketball team faced off against Westminster Christian School. Decked out in Palmetto blue, the boys were ready to fight for a win on their home court for the first game of the season.
The game began with MPSH scoring first. With seven minutes left in the first quarter, MPSH ended in an 8-6 lead. With less than a minute left, the score shortly became 15-14 with MPSH still in the lead. The final score in the first quarter was 19-16, MPSH.
The top scorers throughout the game were Santiago Henriquez, Rafael Diaz and Samfree Sarante.
With MPSH leading throughout the first quarter and going into the second, both teams came back at the end of the second quarter with a score of 36-28, and MPSH in the lead.
In a halftime discussion, cheerleader and sophomore Kylee Krotenberg explains how she felt on the sidelines.
“The players are really good and you can tell that they know what they’re doing,” Krotenberg said. “Palmetto is much better than Westminster, and it’s only halftime, but I think we’ll win.”
At the start of the third quarter, MPSH quickly got on their feet and brought the score up to 57-36. Westminster was not tailing behind them, and the Palmetto Panthers had an assured chance at winning.
With less than two minutes left in the third quarter, the score was 61-40, and MPSH still had a secure lead.
“We never like to assume we are going to win,” senior and varsity boys basketball forward Alex Jackson said. “We like to play the score like it’s 0-0 at every point of the game, and we only even consider it a win once the game is over and we are up.”
The third quarter was ended with MPSH in the lead with a score of 72-44.
In the fourth and final quarter of the game, MPSH led with a score of 74-54 until less than five minutes were remaining in the game. At that point, the score was 77-54, MPSH.
The final score was 83-62, and MPSH got their first win of the season.
“It felt great to win our first preseason game, and this one,” Jackson said. “We are preparing for the next game and all of the upcoming ones.”
