After playing its first eight games of the season on the road, the Summit High School boys basketball finally took to the court in front of a home crowd on Tuesday, Jan. 7.

Looking to secure the team’s second win of the season under interim head coach Paul Lopez, Summit got off to a quick start against the 6-2 Evergreen High School boys basketball team.

In the opening moments of the game, sophomore point guard Cesar Lozano set up the Summit offense and fed the ball to senior Eduardo Gutierrez. Dribbling past defenders inside the paint, Gutierrez laid the ball into the basket to give the Tigers the first basket of the game.

Following a made free throw from Evergreen, Lukas McCanna was called for a flagrant foul, disqualifying him from the game. The foul resulted in a five-point swing for the Tigers, giving the team a 7-1 early advantage. 

The game then turned into a 3-pointer shootout, with both teams jogging down the court and lighting up the scoreboard from behind the arc. It was senior guard Lucas Comcowich, however, who sank the final three pointer, giving the Tigers a substantial lead. 

Not wanting to enter the second quarter trailing by a wide margin, the Evergreen Cougars answered Comcowich’s baskets by going on a run of their own. The influx of points pulled Evergreen within one point, 18-17, to enter the second quarter.

Knowing it needed to stay aggressive, Summit tried to extend its lead in the fresh quarter. Summit set up its offense at the top of the key, but a turnover led to an Evergreen dunk, which gave the Cougars their first lead of the game. 

Summit did not let Evergreen extend its lead, though. Instead, the Tigers matched the Cougars on the other end of the floor and kept the game within reach. After several back-and-forth possessions, Gutierrez found his spot behind the 3-point arc and drained another basket.

The score electrified Summit for a series of possessions, but a four-point run from Evergreen forced Lopez to call a timeout to stall the scoring spree. Out of the timeout, Evergreen continued to infiltrate the Summit defense and score baskets. Scoring in quick succession, Evergreen went into halftime with a 39-28 lead.

Trailing by 11, Summit attempted to cut into the Evergreen lead, but the team was hindered by an aggressive press from the Cougars. In a matter of a few minutes, Evergreen put nine additional points on the board while holding Summit to a basket. 

The powerful run from Evergreen resulted in a Lopez timeout. The brief pause from play settled Summit a bit, resulting in a Lozano 3-pointer and a basket from senior captain Alejandro Baray-Jain.

The flurry of points pulled Summit closer to Evergreen, but the Cougars scrounged for points by hustling for loose balls and drawing fouls. With a quarter remaining, Summit trailed 56-38.

Despite Evergreen putting the game out of reach, Summit still found ways to score in the final quarter. Most notably, Lozano displayed his athletic prowess by dribbling through defenders for an open shot, and Gutierrez drained baskets from the midrange. Summit fell to Evergreen 72-45.

“I’m so happy,” Gutierrez said. “That is a great team that they have there. Frankly, I’m just glad we competed. We didn’t get blown out. We are getting better. That is all I can ask for from this young team. New head coach — I can’t ask for more.”

The loss drops Summit’s record to 1-8 overall and boosts Evergreen’s record to 7-2.

Summit will now prepare to take on Holy Family High School on Friday, Jan. 10, at 5 p.m. The Tigers will then host Golden on Thursday, Jan. 16 ,before going on the road to take on Standley Lake on Jan. 17. 

“We are just gonna work hard in practice like we always do,” Gutierrez said. “Go 100%. Then when it’s game day, we are going to go even harder.”