Sam Culver is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Basha High School for AZPreps365.com

Basha faces Sandra  Day O’ Connor Tuesday but it’s not the greatest battle the Bears face this season. After a year hampered by a pandemic, the Bears have had to adapt to new protocols, including wearing masks during practices and games.

“...To be honest with you, I’m proud of our guys for how they’ve handled it,” said coach Mike Grothaus. “They just keep taking the punches and rolling with it.”

The Bears (8-2) have rolled past the trials that COVID has presented and done it in stride. Grothaus continues to applaud his team, specifically praising its commitment to resilience and flexibility.

“One of the things we talked about going in was our team being resilient. I think they’ve handled that great…. To face some of the adversities they have, they’ve done a great job,” said the coach.

“We can only control our situation. We try to prepare the best we can to continue to grow to get this team better…We share the ball, we shoot it pretty well, the kids are a fun group to be around and watch play. They genuinely care for each other and they know how to play the right way.”

The players have gone through a tremendous amount this season, but they’re confident and assured of their ability to continue to play despite the dangers of COVID exposure.

Guard Thomas Hastings, 6-1, is one of the three seniors on the roster and serves as one of the captains. He continues to hold his teammates accountable for the COVID protocols.

“Every day, we’ve been trying to space out. Sanitize, make sure that if one guy goes down it doesn’t affect the whole team,” said Hastings.

Hastings said wearing a mask is a challenge.

“It’s been a bit of a transition to start. Having to practice with it at first we had to get in better shape, but as of now it’s not that big of a deal,” he said.

Senior guard and fellow captain Trent McLaughlin, 6-5, agreed.

“It’s definitely tougher...most of the time we’ve gotten used to it,” said McLaughlin.

McLaughlin is aware of how much time he has left on his high school basketball court. He intends to soak up every minute.

“We’ve been looking to make every game count. Obviously, we got our season taken away for a few days there, so to have the season back was definitely really exciting and made every game more important...we really didn’t want to take it for granted.”