West Henderson High School’s men’s basketball team won a “Raise the Blue” themed overtime game against North Henderson on Tuesday, Feb. 5.

During the first quarter, North took an early lead in the first two minutes making the first two points of the game. The Falcons made their first two points from fouls by North with an end score of 12-8, North in the lead. West had fouled once and North four times.

The second quarter ended with similar results to the first, with almost no difference in North’s lead. There were more fouls by West coming to a total of five. North had four fouls still, and the quarter ended with a score of 22-18, North in the lead.

The third quarter showed major differences from the previous two as West closed the gap, tying the game. The score was 34-34 with seven fouls from North, and five from West.

“Our student section started getting a little rowdy and someone started calling out the parents on the other (team during) the third quarter, so they had to get the police involved,” senior Matthew Dylewski said.

The fourth quarter ended with a tie, and more fouls from both sides. The score came to a total of 52-52, 10 fouls on both sides. Senior Kyle Porter made a 3-point shot with seconds left on the clock. The shot tied the game, allowing it to go into overtime, giving West a chance to win.

“(Porter) hit a very clutch shot; that was big of him to step up,” junior Ben Bryson said.

With West back in, the game went into four minutes of overtime. North had 5 more times bringing them to a total of 15 fouls and a total of 10 for West. Points were going back and forth between the teams, but West pulled ahead and finished the game with a lead of 3 points and a score of 65-62 giving West the win.

“At the end of the day, we pulled through, and that’s what matters,” Porter said.

After the game, student government set up a ping pong table for students to play on and gave out donuts.

“I liked ping pong; it was great,” Dylewski said. “Everyone from North left, so I didn’t get to play anyone from there, but I destroyed everyone from West. We had a great time. (We) went to Waffle House (after the game), and I had a great time with the basketball players” Dylewski said.

The Falcons will play Tuscola at home on Friday, Feb. 8 at 8 p.m.

By: Kareem Al-Abed, Staff Writer