On the evening of Jan. 10, 2024, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) boys’ basketball team competed against the Thacher School (Thacher) in their first league game of their season. The game was marked by fierce competition between both teams, but despite Foothill Tech being down by nine points at the half, they clawed their way to the lead, ending the game with a score of 49-44.
The first quarter started with Nick Drucker ‘26 and Ashton Brown ‘26 as they strategically scored to put Foothill Tech four points ahead. Thacher responded with a floater through the rim and a successful two shots after a foul to tie the game. Thacher continued with a successful lay-up, but with a mid-range jumper made by Drucker, the score was kept even.
After two successive fouls, Thacher scored another two points making the score 6-8. Following this, Brown pulled up and drilled a deep three to keep Foothill Tech in the lead. Thatcher contested their lead with a lay-up, but after a foul on Brown and two successful free-throws, Foothill Tech finished the first quarter ahead, 11-10.
Thacher started the second quarter by hitting a three pointer. Drucker responded in a similar manner when he shook his defender and drained a shot from behind the arc. After a brief exchange of points, as Drucker hit another three and Elijah Spencer ‘26 scored a lay-up, the score was 19-17. After a rush into the key by Thacher, Drucker endured a hard fall which momentarily took him out of the game.
Thacher quickly grasped their opportunity as they scored six times compared to Foothill Tech’s one shot made by Brown. After this brutal beating, the Dragons were down by nine points, 21-30.
In the third quarter, the Dragons clawed their way to try and close the score gap. Despite his hard fall, Drucker “put on [his] big boy pants” and got back in the game as he immediately slammed down two shots in a row for the Dragons. Thacher then scored a lay-up and drew a foul in which they gained one point off of the free throw. Drucker drew a foul as well, made both free throws and followed those up with a successful three pointer.
After a couple shots made by Thacher, Spencer drew a foul followed with one free throw. As the seconds clicked down before the quarter ended, Luigrey Guce ‘25 stole the ball from Thacher and sprinted down the court to score a buzzer beating lay-up.
The final quarter started with a foul drawn by Thatcher in which they made one free throw. Brown responded with a floater into the basket to bring the gap down to two points. Followed by yet another free throw made by Thacher, Guce and Drucker scored successive three pointers, which placed Foothill Tech in the lead, 41-38. Guce then increased this lead by draining a mid-range jumper.
Drucker and Brown worked together as they made consecutive shots and free throws to widen the gap, which brought the score to 47-43. Brown sealed the deal by drawing the final foul and making another two successful free throws which ended the game in a score of 49-44.
Drucker, who scored 23 points, spoke on his expectations coming into the game by expressing, “We came to stomp on them.” With the Dragons fulfilling their prediction, head coach Jamaal Brown spoke on the victory with excitement, ”We got the dub … it sets us up, you want to get off in the league with a good start.”
The Foothill Tech boys’ basketball team will compete against Laguna Blanca School [Laguna Blanca] on Laguna Blanca’s home court on Jan. 12, 2024, where they look to build onto their current five game winning streak.
