For basketball, statistics are important for keeping track of scores and how many shots players make per game. People do this manually and it is not as easy as it sounds.

The scorekeeper needs to have a place to document all the player’s names on the team. He/She needs a record for offense and a record for defense. The offense sheet records three-point shots, assists [pass to a player, then that player scores], and free throws. The defense sheet records rebounds, steals and block shots.

Statistics are important because they help the team improve for the next game by giving them a goal to work on.

A number of things can go wrong when taking stats and this what happened to the Falcons on Friday, Dec. 8.

On that Dec. 8 game, the West boys basketball team had a game against Bettendorf at West. During the varsity game, there was an error with the scoreboard leading Bettendorf to win against West. The West coaches sent the videos of the game to a company called HUDL, a software company that helps coaches and athletes prepare for and stay ahead in the competition, for analysis. HUDL’s analysis found out the actual score was 70-68 with West winning, instead of 71-70 in favor of Bettendorf.

Although there were people at the game doing statistics for the team, junior Brady McIntyre and biology teacher Steve Saladino, the error that was made on the scoreboard was not caught and thus, Bettendorf won due to the discrepancy.

“Although I was not at the game, I would like to think that I would have caught it because I have challenged the scores in the past,” English teacher Jane Kroening said.

The mistake was made at the 6:55 minute mark of the third quarter. West was inbounding the ball under the West basket. Senior Bailey Garnica caught the ball, and instead of the time starting, Bettendorf was awarded three points on the scoreboard. This was captured on the videos.

Bettendorf’s score went from 41 points to 44 points, and the three extra points were never taken off the scoreboard.

While the Iowa State Athletic Association was looking into the occurrence, it was decided that West would be denied the victory because the state said the game could not be appealed.

“Since the state didn’t overturn the game, I hope we just keep moving forward and [keep] playing good basketball and our Falcon players earn the victory of a highly rated team,” gym teacher and head basketball coach Mark Bigler said.

Right now the boys varsity basketball team has six wins and three losses.

The Falcons play again at West on Tuesday, Jan. 9 versus Clinton .