On February 16th, the boy’s thirds basketball team hosted Northfield Mount Hermon for a 2:30 tipoff in the Hale Gym, looking to avenge a 46-33 road loss earlier in the season. Despite playing much better than the previous two games, a slow start was too much to overcome and Deerfield dropped to 2-8 on the season with the 46-39 loss. Deerfield only hit 1 out of 9 shots in the 1st quarter and were down by 12, 15-3, at the end of the quarter. The 2nd quarter was much better, however, as Deerfield hit 4 out their 10 shots, including 3 of 5 from outside the arc, to cut the deficit to 4, 21-17, at half-time. Neither team shot well in the 3rd quarter, with each team scoring 10 points, to maintain the 4-point lead going into the 4th quarter. Deerfield had several chances to tie the score or take the lead, but missed numerous shots and put backs. Finally, with 5:02 left in the quarter, an Ephraim Tutu ’24 basket finally tied the score at 31. From there, just like in the previous meeting, NMH were able to hit a few shots and cause some turnovers and pull away a bit in the end, winning by a 7-point margin. Lock Grigsby ’25 led the way for Deerfield, scoring a season-high 15 points, while Justin Ahn ’24 chipped in 6 points. The team will return to the court for a big rivalry game on Saturday, February 19th, at 2 pm against Choate Rosemary Hall in the Hale Gym.