Adams Defeats Stoney in Intense Crosstown Showdown

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Sarah Purlee

The highlander student section celebrating the winning free throw

The Crosstown Showdown has been an intense competition for more than 20 years proving which of the Rochester high schools is superior. This year followed tradition, with the Adams’ basketball team facing off against the talented Stoney Creek Cougars.

The Highlanders, led by new coach Jaret Thomas, started off the year with only one win out of their first nine games, while the Cougars started with a commanding four wins in just eight games. 

Having the right mindset was the teams’ plan for success against Stoney. 

“We decided that if we wanted to win, we were going to need to be hungry for every ball and every bucket that we could get,” said junior Austin Yoon, one of the seven first year varsity players on the team.

Oakland Press
Sophomore Justice Mims driving to the hoop for a basket

As the game tipped off, Stoney Creek’s Trevor Smith hit eight quick points to take an early lead over the Highlanders in the first quarter. Adams then made up some ground in the 2nd quarter, scoring enough points to make it a 4-point deficit at halftime. The rest of the game was back and forth, both teams battling every second on the court, until about two seconds left, Stoney was forced to foul the Highlanders’ Justice Mims. The score was 36-37, with one free throw to tie the game, and two to win it. 

“It was just one of those moments where everything just kind of stopped for a few seconds. The first one went in, and as we saw the second shot hit the net, we all went completely crazy,” said fan Nick Traficante, a junior at Adams.

With the two clutch free throws from Mims, bringing in the team high of 14 points, Adams managed to pull off a hard fought victory over the Stoney Creek Cougars.