On Friday, Feb. 21 Huntley High school boys varsity basketball played against Hampshire High School. The game, hosted at Huntley, began at 7 p.m. The bleachers continued to fill with fans eager to see the rivals compete. 

The game began with Uchenna making the first basket, a two-pointer. Shortly after, Hampshire scored two points leaving Huntley realizing it wasn’t going to be an easy game. With 30 seconds left in the first period, Hampshire had 14 points and suddenly with two seconds left, Hampshire scored a three-pointer. Huntley was left trailing.  

The second period started with Hampshire at 17 points and Huntley at six. Huntley fans were worried about the team catching up until Uchenna scored twice in a matter of ten seconds. With five minutes and 42 seconds left in the period, the score was 11-17. In the last ten seconds of the period, Ryan Sroka thankfully scored leaving Raider Nation on their feet.

“I knew the time was running down and the Hampshire student section was counting down quickly to throw me off but, I shot it and it felt off but I saw it go in and the crowd exploded which was pretty cool to end the half,” Sroka said.

The second period ended with Huntley taking the lead with 26 points and Hampshire with 25. 

Halftime came and the Huntley varsity Poms gave an electrifying performance and got the whole crowd ready and pumped up for the second half of the game. In the third period, Huntley made a lot of progress and with six minutes and ten seconds left, the score was Huntley 34 and Hampshire 27.

The fourth period began. The game was intense with players sweaty and eager to win.  Huntley fans cheered their team onto victory with an ending score of Huntley 62 and Hampshire 45.

“The main thing our coaches say when we go up against good teams is to take it one possession at a time. We’re not gonna win the game in one play so we have to take it to step by step which has been working so far,” Uchenna said.

The game was very entertaining to watch. Huntley fans and cheerleaders did an awesome job supporting their team. Come to Huntley’s next game and support our Raiders!