The Wilcox Boys’ Basketball team had a long and successful season this year. The season ended in early March, with the team playing against Oak Grove High School in semifinals. With 18-7 overall wins-losses this season, the basketball team has proven itself to be an exceptional group.

This season, the team adjusted to a new head varsity coach, Rob Toloy who introduced the team to a new brand of basketball, which, “includes full-court, relentless pressure-defense on the opponent the entire game to force them into turning the ball over as much as possible, then quickly turning those turnovers into quick scores.” Junior Tali Finefeuiaki added, “It was different, but the coach did a great job of picking up where we left off last year.” According to Junior Theodore Weinberger, Coach Toloy was motivational and serious about winning. He helped push the team towards a successful season. Coach Toloy described his experience with the team by saying, “Teaching, coaching, and watching this great group of guys achieve the success they did in such a short period of time was very special indeed for me as a new coach this past season.”

The team has overcome a number of hardships this season. Coming from a season where the group finished 9-15 last year, the team initially had trouble adjusting to Coach Toloy’s new methods. However, the team persevered and their initial apprehension faded away. Additionally, the team lost a total of seven valuable players this season. At the Winter Sports rally, the team honored two players, sophomore twins Franchon and Deshawn Butler, who were unable to continue participating in this basketball season because they chose to stay home to take care of their mother and be close to her during her fight against stage four lung cancer. “Her battle and the actions of her sons to serve and help her out of unconditional love served as a humbling teachable moment about life for our team,” Coach Toloy adds. Overall, the entire team has received an overwhelming amount of support from their friends and families. Weinberger notes, “Tons of people come to the games. Sometimes the bleachers are filled with people. It’s pretty crazy.”

Despite any obstacles, the team had a successful season. Coach Toloy praises Senior Jase Wickliffe for his contribution to the team’s success. He states that he, “Made [his teammates] better, and the better they got, the better we got and had more success. When you take that kind of leader and bundle the entire team with the style of relentless full-court defensive pressure the entire game, it was no wonder we had the success that we had.” Additionally, the team’s determination and teamwork led them to a successful season. Tali Finefeuiaki commented that his proudest moment of the season was the team’s game against Oak Grove. He said that, “As the game progressed, we were down, but no one quit on each other. We all just believed that we could do it and sadly lost by 2, but I’ll always be proud of the effort everyone on the team contributed.” Not only did the team triumph in terms of winning games, but also in terms of growth as a team. Their hard work paid off, and they came a long way this season.