Caleb Gottry attends Chandler Preparatory Academy and is a member of the AIA’s Student SID program.

On Thursday, December 2nd, the Chandler Prep Titans hosted the Miami Vandals for the second game of their varsity season. After a narrow win (45-42) against Lincoln Prep in the Titan’s home opener, Chandler Prep suffered a down-to-the-wire loss (62-64) against the Vandals.

At the end of the first half, the Titans trailed Miami 31-35. In the first quarter, the Titans struggled to keep up on defense against a fast Vandal offense. While Chandler Prep set up plays, taking time to move the ball around the arc, Miami was cherry picking layups on the other side of the court. Once the Titans were able to force a slower offense and intercept passes, they momentarily stalled the Vandal’s offense, evening out the score before the first quarter break and keeping it close in the second. Defensively, the Titans snatched 15 steals in the game.

The third quarter was upsetting for Titan coaches. While Chandler Prep only scored twice, the Vandals were able to take a 15-point lead (35-50), much due to the play of star senior Gabe Escobedo. The Vandals were able to snag rebounds, get the ball to Escobedo, and score the fast break layup. Head Coach Ben Wilson speaks to his team’s ability to rally back from the third quarter low:

“Basically, we just have to play our style of basketball. If we play our way—if we play together—we can compete with anybody. But if we don’t play our way, we can lose. In that third quarter, we didn’t play our way and in the fourth quarter we came back and did what we needed to do and almost had a chance. It’s really frustrating, but if we can bring it together, we’ll be really good.”

Junior Sterling Harris led the Titans in scoring with 16 points, going two for two from downtown. Seniors Noah Rassmusen, Zach Romesburg, and Langston Harris all scored in the double digits.  

L. Harris started the final quarter on a high note for the Titans. He used his height to block a Vandal layup, snagged a steal for the easy layup (one of three to start the quarter), and forced a Vandal turnover with close defensive coverage. L. Harris and his younger brother S. Harris also both scored on missed free-throw put-backs in the fourth quarter.

After missing from his spot behind the arc throughout the game, Senior Noah Rassmusen knocked down the three in the final minute of the game. In the last 25 seconds, the Vandals never passed the half court line. The Titans trapped on the full court press and got the steal twice, once scoring with a L. Harris layup and the second time, drawing the foul, sending Senior Josh VanOrdt to the line. Due to injury, Senior Owen Coulter took his place and, missing the first shot, intentionally missed the second hoping for two in the final second. Running out of time just as L. Harris recovered the rebound, the Titans fell to the Vandals 62-64.

Chandler Prep boys varsity basketball plays their next home game against NFL Yet HS on December 7th at 7:00pm. Titan Up.