This article can be found on The Oarsman December 2023 print issue. Edits were made since then to the online version of the article.
With new and old faces on this year’s team, boys’ basketball, 2-3, hopes to defeat rivals Palisades, 0-4, tonight at 6 p.m.
Coach Dave Galley has high confidence that the Gondoliers can defeat Palisades and win the Western League championship “for the first time in 50 to 60 years.” Seniors Kenyon Alexander and Ryder Decena, as well as juniors Marjon Boyles, Rodrigo Trujillo, and Lucca Trujillo, lead the charge.
“If we do that, we’ll get a high seed in the playoffs, possibly Division 1, and the goal is to get back to State,” he said. “That’s always been the goal every year.”
Galley believes that the match-up against the Dolphins will be a tough game nonetheless, but that the top dogs of the Western League are “traditionally Westchester and Fairfax.”
“They’ve been the champions for the last 50 something years, but it is good competition,” he said. “Palisades is always tough, but I like where we are.”
Alexander, a point guard, believes that Palisades does not have the drive to secure a victory against the Gondoliers after coming off a 0-4 losing streak as of the end of November.
“We’re willing to go in there and do anything we have to do to win, and I don’t think they’re willing to do that,” he said. “We’re just looking to muck it up, play good defense and just embarrass them, get them off the gym real fast.”
Currently, the Dolphins do not have a head coach. “They’re not mentally and physically ready to be in the game right now,” Alexander said.
This past Monday was the Gondoliers’ first league game of the season, defeating the University Wildcats 77-52 on the road.
“We have a lot of confidence, and we moved the ball so well, and I think that’s what makes us so talented,” Alexander said.
Galley said that the team is mostly comprised of guards. Even though the starting five is made of four recent JV players who moved up, both Galley and Alexander are proud of the teams’ progress and performance.
“It takes time to do, but I like what the team is doing,” Galley said.
