The JV boys’ basketball team was grounded Friday night by the Mission Bears, losing 42–29 on Feb. 3.

The Cardinals had a game plan going into the game. “Mission likes to play very fast and they are the best at it,” head coach Timothy Won said before the game. “We have to slow the game down. It’s going to be a contrast of styles today as far as the pace of play. The team that can control the pace of play will probably be more successful.”

In the first quarter, the young Cards slowed down the Bears, who are the league’s leading scorers. Aside from the defense, sophomore team captain and guard Andrew Ren and sophomore guard Jace Ng contributed four points each. The Cards ended the quarter down 9–8.

The Cardinals continued to harass the Bears’ offense, forcing them to take tough shots throughout the second quarter. Mission had the upper hand in terms of size, but Lowell’s guards were able to block many Mission shot attempts. Despite Mission coming down with more rebounds, the young Cardinals held the Bears to a season low three points with good defense. After an entire half of trading blows, the two teams went into the second half tied up at 12–12.

Mission came into the second half playing faster on offense and applying heavy pressure on defense. “We got really rattled and we started playing out of sync, going a little too fast, leading to bad shots and turnovers,” Won said. The Bears broke the game open, scoring 16 points in the third quarter. The Bears took advantage of their size and dominated the rebounding game to complement their fast paced offense. The Cardinals went into the fourth quarter down 28–20.

“We have to work on having the energy the entire game and playing the way that we like and not submitting to the way that our opponents play.”

The young Cardinals had a slim margin of error going into the fourth quarter. The Mission defense was unrelenting, forcing the Cardinals to take tough shots and turn the ball over. By the end of the game, the score was 42–29 in favor of Mission. “We did pretty good in the first half, bringing out energy,” Ren said. “We have to work on having the energy the entire game and playing the way that we like and not submitting to the way that our opponents play.”

The Cardinals’ regular season record is now 3–2. Lowell’s next game is today against the KIPP Phoenixes at 4 p.m. at home.