The varsity boys’ basketball team narrowly lost 49-48 against the rival Menlo School varsity basketball team on Friday evening at Blackford.

A crucial shot with eight seconds left on the clock in the fourth quarter affirmed the Menlo victory, despite the Eagles leading for most of the game.

The game-winner came from a Menlo guard who passed two defenders and drove to the basket dribbling through the middle of the court with his right hand. Then, he gathered and shot a layup that floated over the outstretched arm of the taller Eric Holt (12) and went through the hoop after banking off the backboard.

With about five seconds remaining in the game, the Eagles reentered the ball into Dylan Patel’s (12) hands. The point guard sprinted the ball up the right-hand side line amid the cheers of the intense crowd. Menlo’s half-court press prevented pestered Dylan at mid-court to prevent him from shooting in time, resulting in a Menlo victory at the buzzer.

Despite the loss, according to Butch Keller, head coach of the varsity basketball team and Head of the Upper School, the boys played defense to the best of their ability, and the game was decided not only by the last shot but also by turnovers and free throws.

“We had too many turnovers,” Keller said after the game. “But it might have been one of our best defensive games, so I look at things as ‘what did we do well?’ and we did play defense well. [Menlo] went to the free throw line so many more times than we did.

Keller noted that the leading scorer on the Menlo team scored 15 points from free throws alone. Similarly, Arjun Ashok (12), who plays the guard positions, felt that the officiating during the game played a substantial role in the Eagles’ defeat, with certain calls and decisions made by referees being “suspect.”

“[The referees] sometimes made calls that didn’t go our way, and a lot of times you don’t want the refs to decide the game,” Arjun said in a post-game interview. “But in a situation like this, they did. In the end of the first half, they gave [Menlo] an extra point for some reason and wanted to close the team book.”

In the loss, Srivinay Irrinki led the team in scoring, putting up 15 points in the game, including a critical three point play during the fourth quarter. He drove through the middle and shot a left handed layup while being pushed to the ground. The shot went in, and Srivinay sank the free throw that ensued to put the Eagles ahead 48-45 with 2:34 to go. Furthermore, Eric was the second leading scorer, supplying 10 points and several key rebounds and blocks to bolster the defense throughout the game.

Although the team lost the game, both Keller and other players acknowledged that the massive crowd energized the players.

“I love it when we have a home crowd,” Keller said. “When we were in Menlo, we played very apathetic. [With] the crowd tonight, we played as hard as we have ever played, as I’ve ever had a Harker team play.”

“The crowd was awesome,” Arjun said. “I loved them and I appreciate every one of them. They made the atmosphere that much better.”

Sophomore Jordan Goheen, who plays the forward position, also commented on the size of the audience present at the game.

“This might be the largest crowd we’ve had all season,” Jordan said at halftime.

Students, alumni, parents and faculty cheered the Eagles on by frequently chanting “Defense!’ and singing in unison with the cheerleaders during quarter breaks, halftime, and timeouts. The cheerleaders also performed on the baseline throughout the game to keep the crowd involved.

The notorious Menlo-Harker rivalry was likely responsible for the large crowd. According to Rohan Desikan (11), whenever the two teams play, the game is rougher and both teams are entirely invested in winning.

“Over the years, Harker-Menlo has been like a Celtics-Lakers kind of rivalry, in that we really don’t like each other and we do the best we can to beat the other team” Rohan said prior to tip-off. “[Although] initially the game is not as chippy, as [it] goes on, we really start to get into it and play our hearts out.”

According to Coach Keller, the tough loss serves as a lesson for the next game.

“Adversity reveals character,” Keller said. “So we’ll show our character the next game [in] how hard will we play and will we bounce back. We all know that things in [this] game weren’t right, so we’ll correct what happened and come back stronger.”