After a 67-20 loss to the Cocoa Tigers, they boys’ middle school basketball team begins its season at 0-1. Eighth grader Laithe R. was the leading scorer for the Wildcats, dropping 7 points.

“We could’ve done better if we followed what [Coach Charlie Rossi] told us to do, but we definitely competed more in the second half and showed some of the damage we could do,” he said.

Rossi said his team seemed nervous on the court.

“We were a little lost early on, but I expected that since we’ve only practiced three times,” Rossi said. “Our offense struggled at some times, but maybe it’s just first-game jitters.”

Rossi pointed to a few bright spots.

“Laithe was able to step up for his team as well as the fourth-quarter unit, who managed to compete with Cocoa,” he said. “Thomas W. was able to show me that he deserves more minutes in the games to come.”

The Wildcats’ next game is against the the Cocoa Beach Minutemen on Wednesday at Cocoa Beach Jr./ Sr. High School. The boys will play at 5 p.m. and girls will play at 6:15 p.m.