Portland Boys Basketball Defeats St. Johns 62-55

Pictured above, Raiders Trent Myers and Aryan Virk defend against St. John’s

It was a very physical game played with a lot of civility. Portland Coach Jason Goerge said afterwards,"We'll take a win, but tonight I'd grade us a 'C' overall". That's because there were a lot of turnovers. The Redwings double-teamed Portland's Aryan Virk, in the second half, after he scored nineteen first half points and helped Portland take a 33-21 lead into the locker room.

Virk has an uncanny ability to score under pressure and can score from anywhere on the court. He followed a first quarter three point shot with a second quarter dunk on a driving lay-up. But, St. John's held him scoreless in the second half. Sophomore Trent Myers helped pick up the slack by scoring all eleven of his points in the second half, while Senior Jordan Petersen scored eight of his twelve points in the second half.

While the Raiders led by as much as fourteen in the first half (31-17), the Redwings whittled that lead down to three (40-37) near the end of the third quarter. However, the Raiders made 14 fourth quarter free throws, including six from Trent Myers, that proved too much for St. John's. On the night the Raiders were 27 out of 38 from the free-throw line.

Ownen Russell and Grant Ruddy each scored eight points in the game while Blake Myers and Gavin McGregor chipped in two points a piece to round out the Raider scoring. Alex Pung led St. John's with nineteen total points.

The Raiders improved their season record to 2-2 with the win over the Redwings and travel to League favorite Lansing Catholic on Friday night. They then visit Haslett on Tuesday night before returning home next Friday against Eaton Rapids.