The boys varsity basketball team kicked off its much anticipated season on the road at Forest Hills Eastern on Friday night. The game stayed close the whole time, with the largest lead from either side being only ten points. After much back-and-forth throughout the contest, the boys ultimately lost the game 55-53 in overtime.

The game started off slowly; the first bucket came two and a half minutes into the first quarter from a two-point shot made by FHE. The boys struck back with a three-pointer to take the lead, and the scores never varied much from each other for the remainder of the game. The largest variant of ten points came from FHC when the boys got up by a score of 41-31 midway through the third quarter.

To prove how close this game was, there were four lead changes in the final three minutes of regulation. Unfortunately, the Hawks outscored the Rangers 18-8 in the fourth quarter, leading to an overtime period where Eastern won by a two-point margin.

Seniors Jimmy Scholler and Mitchell Wilkinson led the scoring for the Rangers with totals of 20 and 11 points, respectively. The boys shot better than Eastern from inside the arc, with a 54% shooting percentage compared to 33% from the Hawks.

Both Jimmy and junior George Hatchett had stand-out defensive performances, each with five steals recorded during the game and Jimmy getting three blocks. Mitchell contributed on both sides of the ball with 11 rebounds—2 offensive, 9 defensive—and a block of his own.  

The Rangers are now 0-1 on the season, and they will look to turn things around at their next game—the home opener—against East Kentwood on Friday, December 20th at 7:00 pm.