As the Antioch Community High School boys basketball team reaches the middle of the season they are just under .500 overall and tied for the conference lead with a 5-1 record. With half the season to look back on and half to look forward to, they will be able to make major improvements. The team has realistic goals of securing the conference title and possibly a playoff run.
Senior Joel Bulka has been on the team for four years and is preparing for this final push. Bulka believes the team has learned a lot from their early season non-conference games.
“Our coach [Sean Connor] intentionally schedules harder out of conference games and it gets us a lot better for the conference,” Bulka said.
This strategy allows the team to build up their skills early in the season so that when they approach the second half they are the strongest team in the NLCC. Along with Bulka, there are some other key players to watch including senior Carter Webb.
“[Carter Webb] does a lot for us,” Bulka said. “He is a senior, four year varsity player, he scores a lot of rebounds, points and assists. He’s done a lot of awesome stuff on the court.”
Webb is a captain and leads the team in scoring this season; he consistently and largely contributes to the team and believes Bulka is a key player.
“Joel does anything he is asked to do and does it to perfection every time,” Webb said. “He is a team player that we all love.”
Webb has been having a fantastic season so far and hopes the team can continue its forward momentum.
“Ideally I want to win the rest of our games,” Webb said. “We unfortunately dropped a game to Wauconda and we are trying to win out and become conference champions.”
Senior Ben Thompson has also been on the team for four years and has a lot of passion for the sport. Thompson has stepped into more of a leadership role this season, especially when it comes to the younger players. The team has also made great strides in coming together and working as a unit.
“The team morale is great, I feel like all of us get along this season,” Thompson said. “When we started out this Thanksgiving we were still learning our roles on the team but we have really improved since.”
The Sequoits are ending their season with several home games including Wauconda High School, Grayslake North High School and Lakes Community High School, so be sure to come and watch the Sequoits tackle their conference competition and bring home the trophy.
