by Kylayah Davis

The Patterson Clippers varsity boys basketball team came back from a rough start to what was ultimately a very successful year, ending their season with a final record of 18 wins to 7 losses.

On Tuesday, December 5th, the boys basketball team lost their first game of the season. In a post game interview with Coach Oliver about the team’s performance, the coach felt his team did poorly because they were undisciplined and wanted to do things their way, resulting in 27 turnovers.

“They need to improve on listening and being disciplined. They need to work on every aspect of the game, free throws, running sets, not throwing the ball away, layups and doing what they are told, improving on the basics.”, Coach Oliver had said at the time.

Coach Oliver is the head coach of the boys basketball team. He has been coaching basketball for over 30 years and at Patterson since 2011.

When asked in December about his hopes for the season, Coach Oliver said he hoped that all his seniors graduate and go to school and that his team wins city, regional and state championships.

The Clippers had another game that Friday, December 8th, against Bard where they won 67-15. They went on to accomplish their goals of winning the city championship against Poly by a score of 55-52 and the regional championship against City with a score of 56-52. The team then went on to win their first playoff game against Edgewood, 66-53.

On March 8th, Patterson competed in their second playoff game against Northeast High School, where they narrowly lost by a score of 69-65. The top scorers in that game were:

• Sincere Bartfield -25 points
• Caleb Burgess – 10 points
• Marcellus Dobbins -13 points
• Montrell Burgess – 8 points
• Amare Carr – 4 points

There were 12 turnovers in that game.

“Northeast out-rebounded us 45-25.”, explained Coach Oliver. “To other people and our supporters we had a good season, but to me the season was trash; we shouldn’t have lost any games.”

The team ended their season with a record of 18-7 and as Coach Oliver acknowledged, the players’ peers and the school are proud of them. 

At the time of publishing, senior Trent Tedder is committed to go to Methodist University and Sincere Bartfield–who won the Player of the Year award for Baltimore City–is committed to go to Baltimore City Community College.

Get ready for the 2024-2025 school year and all our boys basketball team has to offer.