On Tuesday, Dec. 5, the boys varsity basketball team went up against Marshall at home. With their second game being a win, they were ready for another.

“Everyone on the team is very optimistic about this season. The first win definitely makes us feel better and keeps our hopes high for a good season,” junior Ian Jacknow said.

The game started out slow in the first quarter, ending at 4-14 for Marshall, but McLean stepped up during the second quarter, putting up 12 points on the scoreboard, leaving the final score for the first quarter  as 16-27. Still not being where they needed to be they went into the locker room to get themselves together.

“We came out with more intensity and knew we had to bring it because we felt that they weren’t a better team than us. Personally, I felt amped and ready to win,” senior Andrew Lopez said.

Guard and forward Evan Stout scored for McLean after halftime, giving them a strong head start. But soon after Stout was pushed down and injured.

“When Evan Stout went down early in the second half, we knew that it was going to make the game harder to pull out but we still never gave up and tried to get the win,” Jacknow said.

The third quarter ended with McLean trailing Marshall 35-45. In the fourth quarter, McLean took a turn and with 3:25 left in the game they managed to take the lead at 50-49.

“Toward the end of the game we had a run with a few good defensive possession that turned into points on the other end, that was probably our best stretch and lead to us taking the lead for the first time with only a few minutes to go,” Jacknow said.

Ultimately, McLean was not victorious and they fell to Marshall 52-58.

“We could have started with a better first half and that game would have leaned more our way instead of having to fight back,” Lopez said.

However, they will use this loss as a motivating factor.

“I feel like we worked hard to give ourselves a good chance for the win and as the season continues we need to work on putting ourselves in that position more often and being able to close out games,” Jacknow said.