For the first time in the school’s history, the boys varsity basketball team landed a first place victory at the Community Basketball Tournament Dec. 12.

Junior Xavier Smith lead his team to the championship title and was rewarded as the tournament’s most valued player.

“It felt good to get it. I feel like my hard work is finally paying off,” Smith said.

During the tournament, Smith and the team faced a handful of challenges they needed to overcome to win.

“After playing so many games, we were fatigued. It was really hard to stay focused when we were all out of breath and tired,” Smith said.

The team’s desire to win is what gave them a reason to worker harder amidst the challenges they faced.

“Our chemistry is the reason we won the tournament. We were all focused with one goal in mind,” Smith said.

Instead of celebrating after the tournament, the team focused on what they could improve on for their next tournament.

“Overall we need to work on taking care of the ball, minimizing turnovers and communicating,” Smith said.

Smith and the team have a goal to reach playoffs this year and are inching toward that goal with every game. The team will play Legacy Christian Academy Dec. 19.

“Compared to last year we’re so much better, we arrive to practice on time, and focus in our practices,” Smith said, “I’m sure we’ll be going to playoffs this year.”