Looking to keep themselves ready for the continuation of district play in January, the boys’ basketball team is participating in the 82nd Annual Dallas ISD Holiday Invitational (Dec. 28-30), playing top teams like South Oak Cliff.

“All these games will be at a high level of competition, which will be good for the boys to challenge themselves and learn to adapt quicker against intense opponents,” head coach Stephen Friar said. “Even though it’s a break from school, the boys need to keep at it and stay prepared for all our games.”

For the team, the name of the game is to continue putting everything together and to become more fluid with each other as a whole.

“We’re really looking to build consistency from this tournament,” senior Jake Harvey said. “There are some strong opponents which will give us good practice, but if we can find how to consistently compete at a high level against all our opponents, we’ll be setting ourselves up well for the rest of the year.”

After a short break for the New Year, the Redhawks face Lebanon Trail on Jan. 3, and Heritage on Jan. 6, looking to add two more wins to their District 10-5A record.

“They both look like good and solid teams, so it’ll definitely be a challenge, but I always tell the boys, play every game like it’s your last, approach every game like it’s your first,” Friar said. “The holiday invitational will definitely help us prepare and the boys just have to keep at it with their fundamentals as a team to get the job done.”

With a long break ahead, the boys still need to be on track with some housekeeping and not stray away from routines.

“Our coaches have been putting a lot of time and effort into making sure we learn and understand the scouting reports, so we need to continue to make use of it before games so we’ll be prepared,” senior Jereme Richardson said. “We also just have to stay healthy and in form over break to give ourselves the best chance to win.”