The Rockets’ first playoff game started off like any other game: quick, physical and dominant. However, the Achilles Heel for RM this season has been closing out games, but after leaping out to a 20-0 lead early in the first quarter against Wheaton, the Rockets left their rowdy fans with full confidence that they would be the team celebrating after the final buzzer.

On Feb. 27, the Rockets defeated the Wheaton Knights 88-45 in the first round of the regional playoffs. With a strong lead by half, many of the Rockets players that fans don’t normally see on the court as frequently had an opportunity to show out in front of a playoff cloud. Players like freshman Joseph Davis, junior Taresh Dunn and senior Jesse Boone had the chance to showcase their skills in this exciting game. Davis, originally starting the season on JV, racked up 14 points against the Knights while Boone added 11 to the final score. “It feels great to get the win, as a team we have been struggling recently so it was really good to get a ‘get right’ game to go to the next round of playoffs to play Paint Branch,” Boone said.

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The Rockets had a rough end to their regular season, losing five of their last eight games, three of them being by only a single possession. “We took some tough losses early on, so I think this a great start to our season and playoff run,” Davis said.

One of these late-season losses was to the Paint Branch Panthers on Senior Night, which the Rockets will face off against in the regional quarterfinals. The Rockets will travel to Paint Branch tomorrow, Feb. 29 to avenge their Senior Night loss and hopefully secure a place in the regional championship. “[The game] means everything, we want to beat them, obviously, I mean they ruined our Senior Night so we want to ruin their season,” Boone said.

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