Head in the game: Senior looks to lead basketball team to success

Senior power forward Jatin Mohanty can be tough for opponents to guard. At 6-3 and 205 pounds, he fulfills his role on the team, grabbing rebounds on both ends of the court, dominating defenders in the post and being a defensive anchor.

Since last season, Mohanty has been working on the team’s plays and conditioning, transforming himself from a solid starter to the star of the team.

“We run a lot to stay in game shape and we also do a lot of in-game drills,” Mohanty said. “[The team] lifts twice a week as well so we can stay strong throughout the season.”

Besides his work on and off the court to improve his game, he strives to be someone who helps unify the team and bring out the best in other players, especially since he is one of the team’s captains along with senior shooting guard Joe Eschen and senior small forward Tyler Yoshihara.

“We still have a lot of work to do to become more of a team, but I know we can,” Mohanty said. “We just have to have a team-first mentality, and on the defensive end, we need to talk more and be more in sync.”

The team will start its league season Jan. 8 at Mountain View.

“This team definitely has the talent to beat Mountain View,” Mohanty said. “The way we are playing right now, I am very confident in starting our season off with a win.”

He believes this year’s team has even more potential than the talented team from last year, which nearly placed first in the El Camino League after finishing 10-2 and went on to CCS. Despite losing stars such as 2015 graduate point guard Michael Cole, Mohanty has full faith in this year’s team to succeed.

“We have a lot of enthusiastic and hard-working players, and once we put everything together, we will be a great team,” Mohanty said.

Fortunately, Mohanty represents the team-first mentality that he speaks about. All his teammates can see the example he sets for them.

“Jatin is always working hard whether or not the coach is watching,” junior point guard Jonathan Cai said. “He’s not the typical in-your-face leader that you would expect; instead, he calmly explains what needs to be done and sets the right example for the rest of the team.”