An early start.
A one-point finish.

By Coach Green

On Saturday, October 24, 2026, we headed into another Shootout at BYS YSCs Fall Finale.

An early start

Our first game of the day tipped off at 8 a.m. It was our earliest game of the season so far. Everyone had to get up early and prepare themselves and their bodies in a different way.

What was familiar, however, was our opponent: the Corona Scorpions. This was round three! They had beaten us in our first two meetings. This time, we readied ourselves for the next battle.

A rematch that came down to one point

We battled much better and weathered the storm of their 2–2–1 press much better. Late in the game, we fell behind by several points, then rallied and hit a three-pointer to bring us within one.

From there, we lost our assignment, and the Scorpions added two points at the free-throw line to go up by three. After we drew up a play with several seconds left on the clock, our guard was fouled on the left wing while shooting a three-pointer!

With one second remaining, he went to the line. To take the game into overtime, he needed to make all three free throws.

I can’t put the rest into words. Let’s just say the final margin was one point, and tears were shed. If you want to know whether they were happy tears or tears of sorrow, watch the game below!

An afternoon test against Lead Tha Way

Our second matchup, against Lead Tha Way, came much later at 1 p.m. Another Wild Dog joined us for the first time! That made us a bit stronger down low, but breaking the press, shifting into a half-court offense, and defending stood out as areas where we need to improve.

Lead Tha Way carved us up! We did much better than we would have just weeks ago, but they were tough, big, and ferocious. They appeared well organized and got a lot out of their players.

The game didn’t turn out to be that close. But in due time, we will be ready to compete at the level of teams like this.