The Skyline men’s basketball team lost in their first game in the playoffs last Saturday night to the undefeated Fresno Rams, 78-67. Skyline tested the Rams unlike any team had ever done before in this season.

The Trojans got off to a quick lead, and kept that lead for the first several minutes of the game. The head men’s basketball coach, Justin Piergrossi, commented that, other than adjusting the team’s defense subtly to better suit the Ram’s offense, he tried not to change anything too much, especially because of how late in the season this game was. Judging from the first couple of minutes, it appeared that Piergrossi’s philosophy was paying off. By the end of the first half, however, the Fresno team had rebounded and captured the lead, with the score being 42-30.

When the players had re-emerged onto the playing field for the second half, Skyline really gave it their all, on both offense and defense. For close to nine consecutive minutes, the Trojans kept the Rams scoreless. And coming close to the conclusion of the game, the Skyline men had narrowed the score gap to only 6. Despite having some key players fouled out, the Trojans were coming on strong. But in the end, Fresno broke through and ended the game with an eleven point lead. When talking to coach Piergrossi the next day, he said that the determining factors in the game were the aforementioned fouled-out players and also a few missed shots. He thinks if the team were to have made those shots that the game could have belonged to Skyline.

When asked what he will need to work on for the next season, Piergrossi replied

“We will be losing a major part of the team”, speaking about the sophomores, “they are the heart and soul of the team.”

According to Piergrossi, this responsibility is going to be on this year’s freshmen, next year’s sophomores, shoulders. He explained that the freshmen need to use the experience they gained from watching this year’s amazing sophomores to effectively mentor and develop the new blood.

Reflecting back on this season, coach Piergrossi is very proud of this team. He especially liked the growth that the team went through.

“We opened the season 0-2, but we continued to play better and better down the stretch. We came pretty close to reaching our potential.”

Piergrossi isn’t the only one impressed with the Skyline Trojans. After the game, many people from the Fresno crowd told the players how well they played and it was a blast to see a team so talented and spirited.

Look for the Trojans to return next fall.