On Monday this week, Harrisonburg High School’s Boys JV Basketball team took on the Page County Panthers, beating them at 55-37, and our varsity finished up the night with a much closer matchup in the last few seconds of the game. Despite not selling 130 tickets, there was still a loud, supportive crowd cheering on our team. Two players from the varsity team, Alijah Brooks, a senior who started in the game, and Rakweon Smith, a sophomore, helped the team beat the Panthers at 60-58. Smith, who was the star of the night, led the team scoring a number of free throws for the team.

Brooks and Smith have both been playing basketball since their fifth grade year and have continued to love it ever since.

Brooks loves playing alongside his fellow teammates and also loves the game of basketball. He describes how the game went on Monday and talks about what they could have done better.

“The game was alright. There were a lot of turnovers, but we played pretty well. We also have a lot of young people on our team that still have work to do,” Brooks said.

He thought that the final throw was exciting because the team did not know what to expect during those final seconds of the game.

Smith also loves playing the game in general because of all of the improvement and goals throughout the season. He also loves playing basketball with his teammates and getting to hang out with them is just as fun.

“The first half [of the game] wasn’t that good, but the second was played a lot better, although we had turnovers during the whole game,” Smith said.

He thought that the team played together more towards the end during those last critical moments. Smith shot the last three shots of the game for Harrisonburg, helping us win.