Senior Faysal Farah won the tipoff on Dec.2 as the Pumas opened up their season against Tyee High School.
“Tyee has a lot of speed that’s hard to contain, and they have a lot of quickness that we don’t see very often,” coach James Johnson said.
Ninth grade point guard Elijah Williams made himself known immediately, getting a steal that would lead to the Pumas’ first points.
“As a point guard, I have to step up and be a leader, even though I’m one of the younger guys. I need to be really loud,” Williams said.
The first quarter was largely a seesaw battle, with the Pumas trailing 6-4 at one point midway through after Tyee converted a heavily contested jumper.
“I felt comfortable out there. I felt like I belonged, and I knew what I was doing,” Williams said.
He has been playing basketball since he was three years old, and notes that he had some jitters before his first varsity game. Coach Johnson called a timeout shortly after a Tyee three-pointer, but Williams swung back the momentum with a triple of his own.
“When something like that comes up, I really have my form on my mind. I know I need to focus on my follow-through and make sure my feet are set,” Williams said. The Pumas ended the first quarter with an 11-9 lead.
The dogfight continued throughout the rest of the half, highlighted by another three ball from Williams assisted by a cross-court pass from Farah. The Pumas went into halftime leading 26-17.
“Faysal is a guy that has really stepped up into a great leadership role this year, and he got a lot of nice buckets this game,” Johnson said. “He brings in that seniority, he knows the plays really well, and he’s been a good big brother.”
Tyee started the second half with a three pointer, after a UPrep free throw got called back for a lane violation. Williams hit another free throw, and sophomore point guard Liam Pryor made a midrange jumper to put some distance between the teams.
“They fouled a decent amount, and we were able to take advantage of that,” Johnson said. The Pumas also controlled possession well, securing 13 offensive rebounds in the first half.
“As dominant as that third quarter was, I felt like we were better on defense in the first half,” Johnson said. The Pumas held Tyee to two for the rest of the quarter, and went into the last eight minutes up 34-24.
With the lead, Johnson could afford to put in some of their swing players, who play on both JV and varsity teams.
“We had some great hustle all night, but I really wanna highlight Nicholas Cox-Hultquist. He went from being a starter on varsity last year to being the 10th or 11th man this year. He was asked to play JV earlier this year, and he was fine with that, but he put in the work and now here he is,” Johnson said.
Johnson acknowledges that this will be a little bit of a tough year for the squad, but they have a lot of players who really want to win.
“I also need to highlight Phillip Curran. He’s a dirt worker, and he doesn’t play with an ego. He’s the kind of player every coach dreams of,” Johnson said.
The Pumas led 42-28 with 4 minutes left in the game, and the win was sealed by a block by 9th grader Abe Starin, followed by a three by Cole Waterman that ignited the crowd.
The Pumas ended up moving to 1-0 with a 45-31 win.
“Our performance in general was really solid, and the young guys stepped up,” Farah said. They then prepared to play Overlake the next day.
“They have pretty much ruled our conference over the last few years, and we’ve only beaten them once during my eight-year tenure here,” Johnson said. Overlake has made state five times in the last eight years.
The Pumas got themselves into a deficit early, and were down 30-2 at the end of the first quarter.
“We can’t afford to be careless with the ball like we were tonight against a team like this,” Farah said.
UPrep put up a 7-2 run in the final minutes of the half, which featured a layup by senior small forward Muhamed Abdilahi, and a three and a jumper from Pryor. The Pumas went into half trailing 39-11.
“We knew what we were walking into, but we also still had a game to play,” Farah said.
UPrep snagged a few more buckets, most notably a contested jumper from Pryor, who finished the game with nine points.
“Personally, I was missing a lot of chippy layups that need to be converted, and I’m mad at myself over that,” Farah said.
The Pumas ended up losing 63-19, and their record stands at 1-1 as of Dec.3. The team sits third in their conference, and now turns their sights in the direction of the Northwest School, who they will face on Dec.10.
“Sure, this was a rough one, but we need to get right back in the gym and get ready for the next game,” Farah said. “These are learning moments. You don’t learn by winning, you learn by losing.”
