It was a split week for the Fountain Hills High School boys basketball team, with one win and one loss.

The Falcons played their first game last week against Odyssey Institute.

FHHS was close but ultimately lost the game, 59-53.

The second game from last week was on Dec. 13 against Northwest Christian. The falcons won this match-up by a final score of 50-43.

Fountain Hills Boys basketball had its last match of 2019 Tuesday, Dec. 17, against Payson.

Looking back over the past week, head coach Jeff Bonner said there are no excuses for the loss but he understood that his team had been through a long day before they played Odyssey Institute.

“There are no excuses, win or lose, but it was tough seeing the guys’ energy levels that day,” Bonner explained. “After a long trip, watching the freshmen, JV and girls teams play, they were drained. So we came out a little flat.”

Bonner believes that the Odyssey game can serve as a good lesson about the importance of coming out and setting the tone of the game early.

“We’ll get better and we will grow more and more as a team and understand why we’ve got to come out every single time and set the tone,” Bonner said. “Because they see what happens when you let a team dictate what we do.”

Bonner got three days of practice with his team before its game against Northwest Christian, which he said the team knew was going to be a battle.

“We played three games with them last year, so we knew it was going to be a tough game,” Bonner said. “They had a good scout on us and they’re always a big team. But the guys came out battle strong and out-willed Northwest in the whole game, but particularly in the third quarter.”

Bonner said that his team is still figuring out its identity but, judging by the the way things are going, he feels confident they will find it.