On January 5th, 2016, the McClintock Chargers’ Varsity basketball team lost to rival school Tempe High, finishing the game 3 points behind, with the game’s final score being 70-67.

Jerry Norrish, the announcer of the game, stated, “It was unfortunate that the Chargers lost. I know it was especially unfortunate for the seniors, especially after last year’s dramatic win.”

McClintock was down early to Tempe High, but was able to pick up a lead by the end of the third quarter. Unfortunately, Tempe High was able to recover the lead and win the game at the end of full time.

Students, however, were very supportive of the team, especially on social media.

“Win or lose I love our boys, our student section, and our school. McClintock is still better than Tempe will ever be. #BleedRedAndBlue,” said senior Savannah Reitzel over Twitter.

Sam Dentz, head coach of the team, was also positive on Twitter, saying, “It’s a game of runs. Tonight Tempe made the last one. Tip my cap to everyone that participated in tonight’s rivalry game.”

In an interview, Dentz stated regarding the loss, “I would say that it was very disappointing. Credit Tempe for doing all the little things they needed to do in order to win. They just made a few more plays than us.” Asked about goals for the end of the season, as well about what would from the outcome of the game, he replied, “We have eight games remaining. Right now we are ranked 19th in Division 2. It is important that we win the majority of the rest of our games so that we can make it into the playoffs. We need to identify the mistakes that we made and correct those during  practice so that way the next time we are in a position like that or a game like that, we will be better prepared. We always say in the locker room, ‘It’s only a loss if you don’t learn from it’.”

Last year’s matchup resulted in a win for McClintock, with Amiri Chukwuemeka scoring the game winning shot with 3 seconds left on the board, leaving McClintock 1 point up.

Both the freshmen and JV teams won their games against the Buffaloes.