Walking into their showcase, Battle of the Titans, with a 17-5 record, varsity boys’ basketball came to impress, hosting a shootout with seven other top teams from Illinois and Wisconsin.
On Jan. 27, the varsity boys’ basketball team hosted top Illinois teams: Glenbrook North, Hillcrest, Benet Academy, Normal Community, St. Ignatius, DePaul College Prep, in addition to Pewaukee, a Wisconsin team, in the Titan Dome for four intense battles, Phil Ralston, Boys’ Varsity Basketball Head Coach, explained.
One of Ralston’s main goals when hosting and planning the shootout was to engage South’s community through a basketball game and show off the Titan Dome.
“[The TitanDome] is one of the best places to watch a high school basketball game,” Ralston said.
The Titans played their third game of the day against St. Ignatius, taking the win 84-72, scoring the highest point total of the day and giving them a 18-5 record as of Jan. 27. The game made the team play with a new togetherness to secure the win, point guard and junior Anestis Hadjistamoulou said.
“That game taught us how to bounce back and play for each other compared to playing as five individuals,” Hadjistamoulou said. “We will continue to play together and take more good teams down.”
Even with their success at the shootout, the team is not done. They must also work towards the ultimate goal: getting far in their state tournament, Ralston said.
“[Playing a game] is like taking a test,” Ralston said. “So we do things to prepare for [any] upcoming opponents. But, everything we’re trying to do is ultimately to make a deep run in the state tournament.”
To help the team stay motivated through one of the longest IHSA sports seasons, Ralston creates new drills for the team that are short and competitive.
“We’re constantly working on skill development,” Ralston said. “We spend a lot of time working on shots and ball handling. We work a lot on how we want to defend and how we will defend certain opponents.”
Ralston looks forward to continuing the team’s season, which ends in early March, and hopes to improve.
“We have to overcome adversity,” Ralston said. “The game honors toughness. If we are playing our best, there are going to be great things to come.”
To improve on the court, the team had to trust each other, Hadjistamoulou said. While the team worked hard all season, they needed loyalty and respect to play their absolute best,Hadjistamoulou explained.
“Most of our adversity was internal and playing as a team,”Hadjistamoulou said.“We responded by bonding off the court. Communication is a huge key for us.”
