Cherry Hill West went on a very impressive run this year. Starting off the season with a slow start, senior Daniel Buckwalter knew he had to step up and make a change. Averaging around 18 points a game, it’s safe to say he was the leader of the West basketball team. “Being a senior now and realizing this is my last year playing high school basketball, it made me want to do something memorable.” Starting varsity since his sophomore year, Daniel was able to rack up a lot of points, in fact 1000 plus.

This season on his senior night, Daniel hit his 1000th career basket. The crowd gave him a standing ovation and celebrated for his achievement. Seniors Nick Krake, Jack Goan and Cameron Edwards also had huge impacts on the basketball team as well. The Lions won only three of their first ten games but made a huge turn around towards the end of the season. Making it all the way to the playoffs, West was a 13th seed playing a 4th seeded Toms River. With an amazing performance by the whole West basketball team, the Lions came out on top and won 61 to 55.

Advancing to the second round of playoffs, West faced Atlantic City. AC had an unbelievable record of 25-6 and went 12-0 in their conference. West came to compete. Having the lead nearly the whole game West felt confident they had won the game. Atlantic City somehow started making every bucket and turned it around, causing West to lose by 4 points. “We didn’t expect to make it this far, so being this close to advancing to the third round of playoffs was more than satisfying for us as a team,” said senior Nick Krake.