On January 15, the Piedmont varsity men’s basketball team came up five points short in a home-game loss against San Lorenzo High School.

The Highlanders started out flat, trailing by 12 points to start the second half. In the third and fourth quarters, the teams offense started to pick up, with senior Ahmad Lampkins, leading the way with 12 points in the second half alone.

“We started playing more together and picked up the intensity on defense,” said junior Jordan Torio, who had 13 points in the game. “We could’ve started out with more energy.”

Piedmont won the fourth quarter 22-13, and San Lorenzo’s lead was eventually chipped down to 1. But San Lorenzo’s defense held strong until the end and left the court a with narrow victory, largely due to Piedmont’s lackluster first half.

“We had great intensity in the fourth quarter but started sluggish because it’s finals week,” said senior Jackson Roberts.

Junior Kalen Davison said that primary focus of the Highlanders will be to play as a team and to always have good defensive intensity.

“If we do those things then we are going to win a lot of our games,” Davison said.

Going forward, Torio said that the team needs to improve on its work ethic.

“Compete and push each other harder in practice so it will carry to the games,” Torio said. “That’s all it is.”