On Feb. 15, the day of the boys varsity basketball team’s biggest game of the year, senior small forward Jordan Wong was heard guaranteeing a victory over rival ISA.

Lianna Leal Senior forward Arthur Jones Jr. takes an ISA defender for a ride on Feb. 15.

The boast was quite out of character for the typically humble Wong, especially since the Cobras dealt Lowell their first league loss in two years earlier this season.

With six seconds remaining in the Feb. 15 game, Wong stepped to the free-throw line with his Cardinals up 68-66; two successful free-throws would give the team a four-point lead, effectively putting the game on ice. After nailing his first attempt, Wong confidently raised his blessed left hand with the ball towards the hoop for shot number two. As the ball left his hand, a referee’s whistle screeched through the air, a banshee kicked in the shins and released in the Lowell gymnasium. Wong’s shot swished through the net, but the referee was feverishly waving his arms, signaling “no basket.” Fans, parents, Cobras and Cardinals alike all exchanged looks that mixed concern with confusion.

To reach this point of tension, the teams engaged in three and a half quarters of well-played, high-energy basketball. After ISA sprinted to a four-point lead in the first quarter, the Cardinals countered with a dose of Travis Hom in the second. The sophomore guard, who led all scorers with 25 points in the game, took over in the period, staking Lowell a two-point lead at the half.

In the second half, the momentum of the game took a massive shift in the Cardinals’ favor. Chanting, dancing and screaming, reinforcements had poured into the bleachers. The Sixth Man, Lowell’s notorious cheering section, had arrived. With their fans now intensely cheering them on, the Cardinals exhibited intense defense and crisp, sharp ball movement on the offensive end of the court. Led by Hom’s quick slashing style and acrobatic layups and sharp three-point shooting from Wong, they took a strong eight-point lead with six minutes left in the fourth. At this point, the game came to a screeching halt.

An unidentified male spectator on the ISA side of the bleachers began yelling at one of the referees. As assistant principal Peter Van Court crossed the court to escort the man out, he refused to leave the building without a few more heated words for the ref. When he finally walked out the doors of the Neff gymnasium, he took with him the Cobras’ hopes for victory.

Lianna Leal Senior guard Daniel Situ dribbles past a Cobra in the same game. Lowell won 70-66.

With the game seemingly in talon, ISA made one final push with a minute left. Senior forward Dominic Stewart received an outlet pass and threw down a thunderous one-handed dunk to bring his team to within three points, 67-64. Could the momentum shift in the Cobras direction? Lowell had other plans. After trading free-throws several times, Wong found himself at the line one final time, with six seconds left and the game on the line.

After sinking his first shot, Wong lofted his second toward the basket; though the shot was perfect, his surroundings were not. A classless Cobra fan walked behind the basket and made some sort of distraction in the middle of Wong’s all-important shot. The referee blew the play dead just before his attempt, and for the second time in the quarter, an ISA fan was escorted out of the gym by the Lowell administration. The man slowly exited, taking the time to make some gestures toward the Sixth Man.

Unfazed by the absurdity of his opponents’ fans, Wong confidently approached the line for his final attempt. For the third consecutive time, his shot sailed true, falling through the net for his 23rd point of the game and securing the Cardinals’ sweet revenge over the rival Cobras.

“I just had to zone out all of the distractions,” Wong said. “With the game on the line, I knew I would come through for my team.”

With consecutive wins over ISA and a solid Galileo squad on Feb. 20, the Cardinals clinched first place in their division. The team certainly had their ups and downs in the regular season. Early on, they opened the year with a perfect 8-0 record and two tournament championships. However, they dropped two league heartbreakers by a combined three points to ISA and Wallenberg. Now back on top of the league, the Cardinals look to take home the city championship once again.

Lowell begins their playoff drive at 3:45 today in the Neff Gymnasium versus Thurgood Marshall.