Lansing Sexton defeats Portland Boys 74-72

If the first quarter was any indicator it looked like this game was going to be a blow-out, with Portland jumping out to a 16-3 first quarter lead on the Big Red’s home court. But Sexton charged back in the second quarter with 28 points and took a 31-26 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Emmanuel Jones of Sexton caught on fire in the second half by scoring 24 of his game high 34 points in the third and fourth quarters. He was near perfect from the free throw line tonight by hitting 10 of 12 free throws. Rashaad Greenwood contributed 19 for the Big Reds who improved their record to 2-4 for the year.

Portland continued to trail as the third quarter ended with Sexton leading 54-41. The Big Reds increased their lead to twenty points, 63-43, early in the 4th quarter but Portland refused to quit by scoring 31 points in the fourth quarter and battled to within one point of tying for the lead. Then the Raiders ran out of timeouts and trailed by 4 points with 1 second remaining. A last second layup as time expired brought the final score to 74-72.

Coach Dave Pettit said after the game, “We turned the ball over way too many times and shot poorly from the free throw line”. The Raiders made 10 of 19 free throws in the game, while Sexton made 15 of 21.

Aryan Virk Portland’s Jr. Forward led the Raiders scoring with 19 points. He was followed by Bake Patrick who scored 17, after missing a game earlier in the week due to illness. Owen Russell scored 11; Jordan Petersen had 10; Tate Dziewiatkowski chipped in 7; David Svanda 4; and Gavin McGregor and Mitchell Savage each scored 2 points.

The Raiders, who fell to 2-3 on the year, travel to Hastings on Tuesday, December 18th, to battle the Saxons with a 7:00 tip-off time.