The regular season for the boys varsity basketball team came to a close on Thursday as the team was  defeated 53-48 by the Unity Christian Crusaders. This game happened to be the boys’ senior night, where the four seniors currently on the squad were honored: Jimmy Scholler, Mitchell Wilkinson, Jay Wiener, and Tommy Spaletto.

Jimmy led the team in scoring with 17 points; he also spread the love around the court with seven assists and also picked up two blocks and a steal. Mitchell finished with a similar stat line to Jimmy—he had 12 points, four assists, two blocks, and a steal. Another notable performance came from junior George Hatchett. George had eight points, an assist, and a steal.

The Rangers did not get off to a hot start in the first quarter—they quickly went down 8-0 and didn’t get on the scoreboard until a bucket from Jimmy two and a half minutes into the game. The rest of the first quarter would go 12-7 in favor of Unity and the quarter ended with FHC down 20-9. The second quarter was an improvement from the first, though the boys still weren’t able to dig themselves out of their deficit. After scoring the last four points of the half off of buckets from junior Chris Battiste and Mitchell, the halftime score was 32-19 in favor of the Crusaders.

The third quarter was the start of the boys’ resurgence into the game, winning the quarter 20-6. They dominated the whole quarter and their comeback was highlighted by scoring the last eight points of the third. The run was kicked off by a two-point shot from Mitchell and, with one second left, a shot made by junior Dallas Hopson that gave the team its first lead of the game.

The fourth quarter started off slowly, with neither team scoring until a three-pointer from Unity was made two minutes in. The boys tied the game up with a bucket from George, though the Crusaders hit another three-pointer shortly following. Junior Jonah Spates hit a shot that brought the boys back within one point, but Unity went on a short run that would give them the lead for the remainder of the game. Jimmy would make the final shot of the game, but the boys’ efforts were not enough as the final ended in a 53-48 Ranger defeat.

The boys finish their season at 15-5 overall and an 11-1 record in the OK White conference with a share of the conference championship. Their next matchup will be in the district round of the playoffs; they will play Rockford at home on Monday, March 9th at 7:00 pm.