The Cleveland boys basketball team recently put an end to their season, closing out the PIL with a 2-14 win-loss record. The newspaper interviewed senior Fawaz Shee after their last game against Lincoln, where he was unable to play, due to being suspended in the previous game. 

Shee reflected on a tumultuous season, capped off by a difficult Senior Night.

“The end of the season was much harder than the beginning, it was also much more fun,” Shee said.

The team struggled to perform across the PIL season, however, according to Shee, team bonding was at an all time high. “We weren’t really a winning team, but we found a way to make the season fun,” he said.

One of the team’s best results all year was their 63-40 win against rival Franklin, after losing a close game to them earlier in the season. Unfortunately, a disagreement on court turned into a scuffle that resulted in Shee being issued two technical fouls and a suspension from the match and those to follow. Although Shee, along with the Cleveland’s athletic director Jacob Lambert and coach Sam Glasgow appealed to the OSAA for the decision to be removed, he was unable to play on Senior Night against Lincoln.

Shee said that he “had a lot of people there to support me that night, and I was pretty upset to let them down.”

Both Glasgow and the Lambert agreed that the decision was unfortunate and likely unfair in their appeals, and that the second technical foul was uncalled for and called by a referee who hadn’t seen the full situation.

Despite not getting to play on Senior Night, Shee recalled it as a great celebration, and even though they lost, they had a good time. It was a great end to a great final season, and although the Cleveland team didn’t have the best record, they had a lot of fun.