The Varsity Raider Basketball team won their last game of the non-regional season with a score of 55-54 on Saturday, Dec. 4 against the Mount Vernon Mustangs. Playing at Raider Arena, North came out on top with a strong offense. Both teams had many turnovers and fouls giving up lots of points for both the Raiders and the Mustangs. North started the game with a free throw due to illegal dunking by Mount Vernon in warmups.

Mount Vernon was strong at the free throw line in the first quarter, due to Raider fouls.  Sophomore Brayden Turner, #33, scored two three-pointers in the first quarter. By the end, the Raiders were up with a 13-7 lead. 

Junior Dylan Carpenter, #4, scored the first points at the start of the second quarter. Sophomore Braden Mullis, #22, had two bad passes, which resulted in the Mustangs scoring a three-pointer. Mount Vernon was still strong at the free throw line and made every free shot and took the lead with only one basket late in the second quarter. As momentum was increasing, North responded with two consecutive three-pointers and one under the basket. The Mustangs fought back with another three-pointer, but the Raiders held on to the lead at 23-21 going into halftime.

Junior Will Sokol, #14, started off the second half with a three-pointer for North. Turnovers and fouls gave up points on both sides. Mount Vernon took the lead late in the 3rd quarter with a score of  33-31. Aiden Kudlas, #10,  answered back with a quick two-pointer and Kal-El Delgadillo, #24, with a quick steal and two-pointer. North finished the 3rd quarter up 37-35.

Kudlas scored a three-pointer in the last 30 seconds, followed by a two-pointer with six seconds left on the clock, securing North with a victory over the Mustangs.

Top scorer,Kudlas, with 22 points, commented on how he felt in the last 30 seconds of the game, saying, “I had to make something happen… you know, close game.” He added, “It was me this time, but it could’ve been any of my teammates…I’m just thankful that my teammates trust me… that they trusted me at the end.” 

Turner credited the win to “my teammates, it’s all because of them. Will, Timmy and Aiden had great shots.” He also mentioned, “We game planned all week at practice and it all led to the win.”

 Delgadillo admitted, “I feel like it was a really clutched game, luckily, we all pulled through.” He also mentioned, “I think [the score] was close because of our defense; our defense wasn’t that good. I don’t worry too much about offense because I know all of us can knock down shots, but we need to work on our defense. If we had better defense, we would win a lot more games and we would win by a lot more than just one point.” 

Up next for the Raiders in their regional conference on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at Forsyth Central. The game starts at 7:30 p.m.