After a season of 25-4, a thousand point milestone and a broken record, the PHS men’s varsity basketball team concluded their season with a 72-61 loss to Kennedy High School in the first round of NCS.

Despite the loss, the Highlanders managed to win the WACC League Championship, starting off strong with a 75-58 win against Hayward. They continued with a 77-66 defeat of Alameda and a close 52-48 win  against Mt. Eden.

Men’s varsity basketball coach Chris Lavdiotis said this was one of the most successful seasons the team has had in a very long time. This was also some of the most fun he has had as a coach, Lavdiotis said.

“I don’t know how everyone else defines success, but it was a fabulous season,” Lavdiotis said. “It was the most wins in school history and the last time the Piedmont men won the League Championship was in 1986.”

Before the regular season started, the team played in exhibition games and tournaments. This gave them a chance to play against teams outside of their league, including a team from Hawaii called Punahou.

Along the way, point guard senior Sean Rodriguez surpassed the one thousand point mark and became the fifth high schooler in Piedmont to do so. In fact, he scored over 1,500, shattering the old record of 1,402. It occurred to him that he was on pace to achieve it once he was averaging more than twenty points per game, he said.

Rodriguez also led the team with career assists, which is the total accumulation of assists for his high school career, and became the all time league scorer, which combined earned him the honor of Most Valuable Player.

Guard and forward senior Kalen Davison broke the single season assist record with 130 passes. Both athletes agreed this was their best season, and that one of their greatest achievements was defeating longtime rival Bishop O’Dowd at home 81-61. This was after Bishop O’Dowd won the League Championship last year, so it was a huge win for Piedmont, Davison said, attributing their success to their skill, determination and coachability.