Varsity boys basketball ended their season with a 40-43 loss against Loyola in the regional championships on Fri., Mar. 3.

The team entered the state tournament as the 12th seed. Prior to the Loyola game, New Trier beat Zion-Benton with a score of 50-48. This win allowed them to advance in the IHSA state tournament.

Going into Friday’s game, Loyola Academy had won 13 out of their 14 games. The big game was a very eventful one. New Trier was up at the end of the first quarter, then down at halftime, and then regained the lead at the end of the third.

New Trier ended up losing by three points when they rimmed off a buzzer beater shot that would’ve tied the game up and caused it to go into overtime.

The team had a “wrath of sickness” as Head Coach Fricke put it, which made playing in this game especially difficult. One of the usual starters, Griff Ryan, could only play a few minutes because he had just come back from being sick.

Also, their point guard Andrew Kirkpatrick not only had strep throat but also played with a broken nose on Friday.

One play in particular from the game that stood out to Coach Fricke was when Loyola had possession of the ball for over a minute and then banked the ball from behind the basket over a 6’9” New Trier player.

Trevians showed signs of life however. One play that stood out to Senior Captain Joe Akason was when “Aaron Peltz had a bank three from way beyond the arc.”

The second half of the game was where New Trier lost their momentum. “Loyola just made more plays than us in the second half,” said junior Michael Bertagna.

The loss was especially hard considering New Trier was against their rival school, “It was tough we had to lose to Loyola but it was a promising end to the season” Akason said.

Though the loss was hard, the varsity players tried to keep a positive attitude about the season.

Senior Captain Dylan Horvitz said he felt that as a team they really, “left it all on the court and gave it [their] all.”

Similar to the game on Friday, the varsity team’s season had many ups and downs. This season, the team had an exceptional amount of illnesses and injuries, making it even more impressive they made it so far.

For example, at one point about halfway through the season, Horvitz was out with an ankle injury for six weeks. Losing a strong team member for that long not only made playing in a game more difficult, but also made bonding with the team harder to accomplish.

The varsity players had a hard time coming together at the beginning of their season, “Our weakness was probably playing as a team on the floor Horvitz said.