On Jan. 30th at 7 p.m., the Huntley Red Raiders tipped off against the Dundee-Crown Chargers. Coming into the game, expectations were low. The word on the street was that the game was going to be boring and uncompetitive. It’s important to remember that anything is possible, and that is just what we saw.

Both teams came out firing. There were numerous lead changes throughout the first quarter and the game remained close through the entire first half. Both teams shot well from the free throw line and the defense was solid.

Coming out of halftime both teams were ready to show who was best. Huntley immediately made a shot from the perimeter, which gave them a one point lead. This, however, was not long lived. Dundee soon gained the lead back, and it remained that way for the entirety of the second half.

With 2:06 remaining in the 4th quarter, a timeout was called. Perhaps to give the team a breather, maybe to motivate them, possibly both, but either way the score stood at 44-36, in favor of Dundee. If they were going to mount a comeback, it had to be now.

Unfortunately, not much changed, and Huntley continued to shoot poorly, only scoring one additional point in the final 2 minutes, which came from a free throw. The final score being 52-37.

“We made three shots the entire second half. We played hard, battled hard, but we just couldn’t make a shot. We went ice cold.” Coach Benson said.

It seems to be a common point of struggle for the team this season. They experienced similar troubles one week earlier against Prairie Ridge. A solid first half, followed by a lackluster second.

“We couldn’t make shots from the perimeter, it was simple. We did play pretty good defense though.” sophomore Ryan Sroka said.

It’s clear that both coaches and players understand where they are lacking, the 4th quarter. Now the question is, how are they are going to fix it?