Raiders fall to Sexton in Boys Basketball

Portland’s Owen Russell brings the ball up court against Sexton’s pressure. Russell finished the night with 11 points as Portland fell to the Big Reds 56-54.

Portland's Brody Smith went to the free-throw line with 1.5 seconds left on the clock and the Raider's trailing 56-54. Everett scored a lay-up just seconds before and on the ensuing play Smith was fouled while attempting a shot under the Portland basket. Smith was in a position to send the game to overtime, but needed to make both shots from the free-throw line. When his first shot bounced off the rim, Raider Coach Jason Goerge called a time-out. It appeared the strategy was for Smith to purposefully miss the second shot in hopes that it would bounce off the rim into the hands of a Raider who would tip it in for a basket and send the game into overtime. Following the time-out, Smith's second free throw did bounce off the rim.....right into the hands of an Everett player who held on as time expired.

The game had see-sawed back and forth all night. Sexton led at the half, 23-19, after holding Portland's Aryan Virk scoreless in the first two quarters. It turned out to be the Big Reds largest lead of the night. Virk came alive in the second-half scoring all of his 24 points after the break. Sexton took a one point,38-37, lead into the fourth quarter, but the Raiders went on a seven point run to push their lead to 44-38. Sexton then came roaring back and outscored Portland 10-4 to tie the game at 48-48. With less than a minute to go the score remained tied at 54-54. A Sexton lay-up and the missed free-throws by Smith ended the game with the final score 56-54. Portland is now 1-2 on the season.

Sexton Coach Dale Beard, who took over as Sexton Head Coach less than two-months ago, was pleased with his teams performance and his first win as coach. The Big Reds are now 1-4 on the season. "I'm happy for the night. We need to build on this. We played with an improved defense and had some big rebounds tonight. Portland did a great job containing Emanuel Jones and so we struggled a bit, but our offense but came through".

Portland Coach, Jason Goerge, was frustrated with the Raider's nineteen turnovers and being out-rebounded by Sexton. "We did a good job containing Jones, but our poor rebounding killed us tonight". The Raiders have a Christmas break and return to action on Tuesday, January 7th at home against St. John's.