AWHS Varsity boys basketball kicked off the North Coast Section (NCS) round one game against Rancho Cotate at their home court Tuesday, Feb. 15. Dominating the game, the Falcons beat the Cougars 78-36.

Starting off strong, AWHS won the tip-off, resulting in the Falcons scoring first, putting them in the lead for the rest of the game. AWHS kept a strong defense, only allowing Rancho Cotate to score four points within the first quarter of the game. AWHS also demonstrated solid offense, scoring 21 points in the first quarter. They ended the first half with a score of 44-19, in the lead by 25 points. 

Senior point guard Jonas Salk says that their offense and defense were solid this game and that they all played well together. During some points of the game,

Jonas thought they got over-confident on their offense, causing them to miss some of their shots, but he feels that altogether the Falcons played well. 

“We play our best offense when our defense is really on point because we can push the ball off turnovers, we can move the ball fast and we played an all-around good game tonight. There were a couple of possessions where we got a little too confident in early shots but overall we played a great game and played a good team,” Jonas said. 

Similarly, head coach Bret Tovani believes that the team played skillfully on both offense and defense. Rancho Cotate had some strong shooters, but Tovani believes the boys handled them well on defense. 

According to Tovani, the team’s offensive shooting skills have immensely improved since their Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) championship game against Redwood High School, Feb. 12, which resulted in an upsetting loss. He believes that they were off their shooting game against Redwood, but brought it back in today’s game. 

“They played really well on both ends, offense, and defense. I thought we shot the ball better, and we didn’t shoot the ball too well against Redwood last Saturday night and so hopefully we are back to where we need to be in order to do what we typically do,” Tovani said. 

Following the defeat against Redwood, Tovani believes the AWHS team lacks consistency which can determine the team’s outcome. Tovani hopes to continue to keep a strong performance against all future teams by working on a steady offense.

“One thing we need to do to improve is to be more consistent, like how Saturday night we didn’t shoot well, and tonight we shot better. We need to be like tonight all the time, defensively we are better and we’re more consistent on that end and we need to get more consistent with offense,” Tovani said.

The boy’s Varsity basketball team hopes to move forward with more consistency in their offensive skills as they prepare for upcoming NCS games. Following the team’s stellar performance against Rancho Cotate, their next game is Friday, Feb. 18 at 7:00 p.m. versus Hayward High School at AWHS’ home court for the last home game of the season.