Le finished the game with 8 points shooting 4-10 on the night. He leads the team in field goal percentage shooting 41% this season. Le shouldered a lot of the defensive responsibilities against the bigger Monrovia team, reflected in his four recorded fouls.
By Tyler Lau
Sports Editor
Varsity boys basketball defeated the Monrovia Wildcats at home on Jan. 17 with a final score of 70-47. Both teams entered the game with a 0-4 league record. The win marked the team’s first league win in two seasons.
The Wildcats gained the first possession of the game, winning the tipoff to open play. The Rams started the quarter going 2-7 from the free-throw line. Wildcats took an early lead going up 7-2 in the opening minutes. The Rams started the game with a full-court press applying pressure to the Wildcats’ offense and forcing early turnovers.
The undersized TC team ran a zone defense throughout the game in order to combat the significant size difference. The Rams finished the first quarter up 10-9.
Monrovia opened the second quarter in a half-court defensive press trying to trap the Rams offense up against the half-court line.
Junior Shawn Le inbounded the ball with three minutes to go in the second quarter to junior Hayden Hui. Hui’s three-pointer missed but Le hustled cross-court for the putback play to secure two points.
Cheers erupted as junior Liam Ngo hit a corner three to put the Rams up 15-9 with 5 minutes left in the second quarter forcing a Wildcat timeout.
Senior Cody Lau dribbled left attacking the basket in the last minute of the half to get the and-one finish, converting the free-throw to complete the three-point play.
TC’s defensive full-court press forced seven Monrovia turnovers, taking over the momentum of the game and securing extra possessions for the team. At the end of the first half, the Rams led 28-15.
Despite the height disadvantage, the Rams found success in driving and cutting toward the basket for easy chances at the rim and foul shot opportunities. The Monrovia coaches emphasized covering these cuts on defense in order to stop the Rams’ scoring runs. With 30 seconds left in the quarter, sophomore Brayden Kwan drove to the basket using his body to seek contact, and his outstretched arm to get the layup to go, on top of the foul call.
Senior Justin Chung followed a missed layup from Ngo to tip the ball back in the hoop and cap off the scoring in the third. The Rams entered the fourth quarter with a sizable lead of 47-30.
Sophomore Mason Collins sealed his man for positioning in the painted area to get the layup and the foul for two points with six minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
Lau drove down the lane using a euro-step drive to bypass three Monrovia defenders for his third and-one finish of the night with five minutes to go.
The buzzer sounded at the end of the game signaling boys basketball’s first league win of the season.