Learning from your mistakes and failures is a large part of success. Last year, the seventh-grade basketball team learned that lesson as their only loss of the season was by a whopping margin at the hands of Bright Futures Academy (BFA), a team that was comprised of mostly eighth graders. However, later in the season, Benjamin won  its rematch with Bright Futures, beating the Sharks  by eight points. This year, that same Benjamin team, now eighth graders, faced BFA in their second home game and third overall. . Although there were different rosters, this game stood out as an important one – the grudge match carried over from last year. Everyone on the team understood the importance of the game. “Any time we play them, it can be a crucial game,” said starting center Josh Greene. However, Coach DiGiovanni said that “[with] the competitive nature of the boys on the team, they are fired up to play every game.”

In the game, Benjamin was led by its starters: Greene, Eddie Hayes, Jack Keiser, JoJo LaBovick, and Joe Mariani. The Bucs  got off to a good start, opening a 14-4 lead by the end of the first quarter. The next two quarters were all Benjamin. In the second quarter, Bright Futures did not score once. In fact, the next time Bright Futures scored was with three minutes left in the third quarter. By then, Benjamin was up 36-7. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Benjamin was up 42-10 and rested its starters. The final score ended up being 50-24, giving Benjamin the win and a 3-0 record on the season.

This game was not all about getting the win for Coach DiGiovanni. His goal for this game was to get the team to use more shot fakes and jump stops when driving in the lane. He saw a few of each, but he said he would like to see more. He was very proud of his team’s ability to share the ball and play hard throughout the whole game. LaBovick thought the team “dominated on the boards,” “put up a lot of shots,” but “can make more layups.” He knows the team has “a lot of stuff to improve.”

Benjamin has separate basketball teams for the sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade boys, but Bright Futures has only one collective team. Last year, the Benjamin seventh-grade squad played against mostly eighth graders from BFA (who are now in ninth and, therefore, not at the middle school level  anymore).So this year, the Sharks’ roster  had a different and younger look. Coach DiGiovanni and Labovick thought Bright Futures “did not have the same talent level,” “did not have as much athleticism,” and was “smaller in size” than last year’s lineup, providing “an easier challenge.”

After Bright Futures ruined their perfect season last year, Benjamin has now beaten them twice in a row. This game was the tiebreaker in the series and gave Bright Futures a chance to avenge themselves after Benjamin beat them, but Coach DiGiovanni and his team did not let that happen. Although the game was not as close or as competitive as their last meeting, the two schools are still rivals in every sense of the word.