As the Loyola Basketball season approaches it’s midpoint, the Cubs have an overall record of 12-6 with a league record of 4-2 and are unranked in CIF-Southern Section.

The Cubs travelled to St. Francis in Pasadena on Jan. 22 and won by a score of 56-54 to improve their Mission league record to 4-2.

The game was close the whole way through as the score was 32-30 at the end of two quarters and 45-43 going into the fourth quarter. The two point margin was the closest point differential of any of the team’s wins in Mission League and regular season play.

The Cubs lost on Friday, Jan. 12, against rivals Harvard-Westlake by a score of 60-53 and won the game against Alemany with a score of 78-70 on Wednesday, Jan. 17.

Junior shooting guard CJ Jones led the Cubs with 30 points, his highest individual point total on the season.

Jones said, “We’ve had a few close losses to some really good teams so we just need to work on the little things in crunch time and then we’re there. We have the perfect amount of talent to be very good, we just need to put it together.”

Jones currently is one of the team’s leading scorer with 12.5 points per game, second behind junior forward James Keefe who averages 14.6.

Keefe also leads the team in rebounds with eight boards per game.

The team’s starting lineup consists of guard Neil Owens, guard Mason Butler, guard CJ Jones, forward Anthony Lucenti, and forward James Keefe. The lineup features five juniors, and only two of the juniors saw varsity playing time last season.

Head Coach Jamal Adams said, “With such a young roster and lineup comes growing pains. I think, as with life, a lot of things are for the  first time, and for us and we’ve definitely bumped our heads but this group the second time around always does a lot better, it’s really great to watch them grow from these experiences. They’re all very close and this has helped us grow together.”

In their fifth Mission League game of the season, the team beat Notre Dame by a score of 70-54.

Junior point guard Mason Butler said, “We are going hard on the court and in the gym with non-stop practice and drills to be at peak performance for the rest of the season.” Butler and Owens, who facilitate from the backcourt, are averaging up to six assists per game as a duo.

Adams, who has an all-time winning record of 229-77 is hoping to lead the Varsity team to a CIF Championship this season.