11/26/2024
The Argonaut boys’ varsity basketball team began the season with an away game at Hughson Highschool and
immediately demonstrated an intensity that resulted in an overall low scoring game that gave Argonaut
their first win of the year. The Argonaut team set the tone early in the game with a smothering defense
that the Hughson team was unable to adjust for. Both teams were a bit tentative offensively in the
beginning of the contest and turnovers were a problem for both teams which could be attributed to
being the first game of the year. However, Argonaut played steady ball and their hustle and defensive
intensity helped them gain their footing offensively. Argonaut outscored Hughson every quarter and convincingly outscored their opponent 50 – 33. There were nine players who scored which included
high scorers’ Mitchell McMahan with 16 points and JJ Lungren with 14 points.
The second game of the year was a home game against Denair Highschool that got off to a rocky start, by Argonaut as they found themselves down 7 – 0 in the first few minutes of the game. Koby Cervantes, of Denair was dominant early in first quarter with 10 points and was the clear problem for Argonaut.
Coach Jon Gilliam was able to correct the path but this game would include more offensive power that
complimented another smothering defensive performance. The score at the end of the first quarter
found Argonaut ahead 24 – 14 and the game was never close after that. Argonaut went on to win by a
score of 89 – 46 and a big difference from the first game was that there were ten Argonaut players who
scored with five players in double digits scoring. Jason Caspary was the high scorer with 15 points,
followed by Mitchell McMahan and Michael Rooney each with 14 points and JoJo Docket and JJ Lungren
each with 13 points.
The third game of the season was at Foresthill and the Argonaut team was overwhelming and dominant from the very start. The Foresthill team had no answer for Mitchell McMahan who had 9 early points in the first quarter and ended up with 27 points for the game. Zander Castro also had 8
points in the first quarter and finished with 17 points for the game. Mitchell’s dominant play along with
the smothering defense of Argonaut was demonstrated by the 24 - 3 score at the end of the first
quarter. The game was never close after that and Argonaut went on to a 79 – 28 victory.
The Argonaut team, with three wins and no losses, has shown steady improvement from the first
game with fewer turnovers and more balanced scoring while maintaining a strong defense. It has also
shown improvement with margins of victories in their wins increasing each game from 17 to 43 to 51,
which will be very hard to improve on against their next opponent, Bret Harte, who always seems to be
a sturdy opponent.
