Raiders play their best game of year in defeating Charlotte in Double Overtime

It was a total team effort Friday night at Charlotte as the Portland Boys’ basketball team defeated the Orioles in double overtime, 53-52, to close out the regular season with a win and raise their overall record to 5-13 heading into Monday’s MHSAA District Tournament play.

The Raiders, who lost to Charlotte at home in mid-January, “played really hard tonight” according to Portland Coach Dave Pettit. Raider point guard, Jordan Petersen, only scored two points on the night, but they were “two huge free throws”, as described by Coach Pettit. Blake Meyers did not score any points but made what Coach Pettit described as “a huge defensive steal” late in the game and was a deciding factor in the outcome. Coach Pettit reflected after the game, “They (Charlotte) went zone in the second half and we struggled some against it, but executed a couple sets late that got us a bucket and a couple of free throws”. Coach Pettit also praised the play of Gavin McGregor, Tate Dziewiatkowski, Owen Russell and Aryan Virk in the game. Russell and Virk led the Raiders in scoring with 17 and 23 points respectively. Justin Bates had 18 and Stephen Dotts had 15 for Charlotte.

The Raiders play Lansing Sexton, whom they split games with during the regular season, on Monday night at 7:30 PM in the opening round of the District Tournament being held at Portland High School. Sexton lost to Lansing Catholic 72-95 on Friday night to finish their regular season at 2-18. Tournament favorite Ionia (17-3) opens the tournament with a 6:00 tip-off against Lansing Catholic (14-6).