Frank A. Davis

COURTLAND

It was a packed house for Senior Night in the Southampton Academy gym on Friday as the Raiders boys’ basketball team faced their longtime rival, the Warriors of Tidewater Academy.

After the opening ceremony to recognize seniors for their participation in basketball and cheerleading, the ball was tossed to start the game. From the starting tip-off, it did not look good for the home team as the Warriors played their A game for the entire game to easily claim a 65-32 win over the Raiders. The Warriors opened the game with a 7-0 run in the early minutes of the quarter. With 3:39 remaining in the quarter, the Raiders finally got on the scoreboard following a three-point basket by Ricky Evans. The Warriors had no problem in scoring as they connected for four 3-point baskets. The quarter ended with the Warriors ahead 16-3.

The second quarter did not look any better for the Raiders as the Warriors continued their attack on Southampton Academy and with scoring 3-point baskets. For this quarter they added three more to their count. At the end of the first half the Warriors were up 30-7.

Coming back after halftime, the Raiders picked their game up a little. Two Raiders, Jordan Buchanan and Wyatt Jernigan both scored a 3-point basket and it did give the Raiders their best scoring quarter of the game with 18 points. But, the Warriors scored 20 points to allow them to still be in control and end the quarter up, 50-25.

Going into the final quarter of play, it didn’t get any better for the home team. They continued to be aggressive and push the ball down the court, but they just couldn’t score. The Warriors again outscored them for this quarter, 12-7.

In scoring for the Raiders, Jordan Buchanan was the high scorer with 8 points. For the Warriors, Titas Mikalopas lead with 23 points, followed by Jose Griffin with 16 points.

Southampton Academy Raider head coach Chris Pope stated after the game, “I think that we got run out of the gym in the first quarter, they shot the lights out. We couldn’t hit anything and that was pretty much of the story all night. We finally played a little more intensely in the second half, but they were still shooting the lights out and we just couldn’t hit anything. Its’ not to much that you can do on a night like this when you are not making anything.”