December is a time for holiday festivities, seeing family, and playing in the snow. For many students at Cherry Hill East though, December means the return of basketball. The East Cougars came into Thursday’s game against the Eastern Vikings with a chip on their shoulder after losing a tight game to Paul VI on Tuesday.

The East Countrymen made sure to show out for the game, acting as rowdy as ever. They turned around as the Eastern starters were announced, and fell backward as Sam Serata (‘19) shot them with an imaginary arrow.

Carl Gibson (‘19) opened the scoring the for the Cougars to stop a 6-0 run by Eastern. Dienye Peterside (‘18) came down on the next possession and swished a three to make to cut the Viking lead to one. Serata would then score the following seven points for the Cougars, taking the lead for the first time in the game. The score after the first quarter was 12-9, with East in the lead.

Serata opened the second quarter with another three, making the Cougar lead six. Colin Prendergast (‘19), an East transfer from Eastern would add a three of his own. On the next defensive possession, Prendergast stole the ball, leading to a fast break layup for Josh Hall (‘18), giving East a 20-15 lead. Hall would later knock down a shot with 15 seconds left in the first half, making the lead 24-19 going into the third quarter. Serata led all scorers with ten points going into the break.

Prendergast was able to knock down a three after Serata went 1-2 at the line to start the second half. Although the Cougars had what seemed like a good lead, the Vikings made sure that that would not last. After three, the Vikings led 35-31, allowing the Cougars only to score seven points in the quarter.

The Cougars fought to the end, but it was not enough to capture the win as the Vikings escaped East with a 56-45 win. Serata hit four three-pointers, finishing with a game-high 22 points.

Gibson and Prendergast added six points, Peterside finished with five points, hall with four, and Jared Ohnona (‘18) with two. Onye Okoro (‘18) led Eastern scorers with 17 points. The Cougars fall to 1-2 on the season. Their next game is December 22 at 5:30 against Glassboro.