This Tuesday, February 13, the boys basketball team took on the incredibly tough Eagle Valley team, unfortunately coming away with a loss. But Palisade won off the court, where we collected over $1000 for the fight against brain cancer during both the girls and boys games. 

The boys opened the game with a close first quarter, ending at 14-12, with Palisade in the lead. The next quarter was followed by a sudden burst of energy from the Eagle Valley team, allowing them to score 20 points in just 8 minutes. At the half, we were down by 7, but the boys came back ready to fight. They hustled up and down the court non stop for the next half. Our offense was killing it, with Hunter Howard averaging 13 points, and players like Carter Hayward and LJ Ballinger putting incredible three’s into the basket. Unfortunately, the Eagle Valley team was strong on offense as well and didn’t allow us to take our lead back, the game ended with a final score of 72-65, Eagle Valley.

Although we may not have won the battle on the court, Palisade still fought hard to fight against brain cancer. We were joined on Tuesday night by the family of Andy Smith, a Grand Junction High School graduate who was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a childhood cancer that affects the brain and spine. Despite this critical diagnosis, Andy still went on to attend CMU where he got a degree in sports science and graduated this year. Ahead of his 22nd birthday this week, Andy shared with the crowd one of his favorite quotes, “the greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to them their own.” The girls basketball team then went around to collect money for Andy’s fight. The girls and boys teams ended up raising over $1000 for Andy, surpassing their goal of a thousand even. Andy Smith continues to inspire all of us everyday by revealing our riches to ourselves. Our boys team fought hard on Tuesday, and even if they didn’t get the win, they undoubtedly battled for a good cause.