On January 17th, the gym at East High School turned into a cauldron of noise, and not the type of noise that fans would expect in a home gym. Highland’s Black Hole was loud and chaotic as it’s ever been in the Rams dominating 61-44 win over rival East. The Highland fans had all the reason to cheer in the statement win over the Leopards. They completely drowned out a beaten and broken East fan section, which couldn’t find much to cheer for throughout the contest.
Although the final score makes it look close, the game was only competitive during the tip off. Highland started off the game by going on a 13-0 run. Complete with complex passing and an NBA like alley-oop. The rest of the game was filled with much of the same.
East simply had no answer for Highland’s lockdown defense. It seemed as though East was turning the ball over on every other possession, which Highland was able to capitalize on what seemed like every time. East also didn’t have an answer for the dynamic duo of senior Vai Higby and junior Jordan Oberholtzer.
“We played good and we played hard, everybody did their job,” Oberholtzer said.
Oberholtzer shocked fans with crazy passes for the entirety of the game. Whether it was behind the back, over the shoulder, or a no looker, Oberholtzer seemed to have 360 vision in finding the weak spots of the East defense. Higby took a more overpowering approach. East didn’t have any solutions for his drives into the paint.
Overall, Highland basketball did what it went to do in spectacular fashion.
“It felt good to win. It was a good game, everybody played good,” Higby said.
It felt as though the Rams were playing pickup basketball. There was a certain aura in the air that made it seemed like the team was playing loose and enjoying a game, which laxed behavior is not something that is common in such a competitive region.
This game should most likely be a pretty accurate preview for when the rivalry returns to Highland’s home court in the “Freak East” game on February 7th, in which the Rams will look to come out with another crushing victory.
“Were going to come out and do the same thing as the first time we played them,” Oberholtzer said.
Higby’s response was the same.
“Were not changing anything. We’re going to go out there and kill it.”
