The Fountain Hills High School boys basketball team had one of its roughest weeks of the season, but head coach Jeff Bonner believes that it will be a learning experience.

The Falcons’ first game last week was on Jan. 13 against Scottsdale Christian Academy. This was FHHS’ most lopsided loss of the week, with the final score being 79-40.

The next game for Fountain Hills was on Jan. 16, this time against Gilbert Christian. The Falcons put up a fight but narrowly lost, 59-54.

For their final game of the week the Falcons travelled to Pusch Ridge Christian Academy in Tucson on Jan. 18. FHHS suffered another close loss with a final score of 54-51.

Fountain Hills has two games on its schedule this week. The first was yesterday, Jan. 21, against Coronado.

The team’s second game is tomorrow, Jan. 23, at home against Arizona College Prep. The game starts at 7 p.m.

Bonner said that the loss of two key players for the Falcons has forced them to search for a new identity this season.

“Right now we’re down two players, Quinton Langworthy and Dion Doka,” Bonner explained. “They have been some key players this season so we are adjusting to playing without them.”

Bonner said that while the team was still making that adjustment in the game against Scottsdale Christian, he felt that they were starting to put the pieces together in the Gilbert Christian game.

“We started the Gilbert Christian game slow,” Bonner said. “At halftime we were down about 12 or 13 points, but the guys really showed up for the second half, closed that gap and made it a one- or two-point game.”

The Falcons had a chance to win the game on a three-pointer but the shot didn’t quite land.

In the game against Pusch Ridge Bonner said he believes that the long day of traveling and waiting made the team sluggish when they played.

“That is no excuse though, and for that game our defense just wasn’t there,” Bonner said. “Our offense was alright but we gave too many chances to Pusch Ridge that they took advantage of.”

Like the Gilbert Christian game, this game went down to the last minutes and, unfortunately, the Falcons weren’t able to find an open man.