JA traveled to Madison in a pair of games where the outcome did not affect the playoff seeding but that never stops these two rivals from putting the best foot forward. The JV Raiders were undermanned against an unbeaten MRA squad that won by seven earlier this year against a healthy JA. That should have added up to a blowout for MRA, but the JV Raiders made the Patriots work for it as they played an even first quarter at 12-12. The second quarter saw a couple of lead changes before MRA extended the lead to three at the break. The Raiders tied things up at 27-27 with 4:30 remaining before the Patriots pushed the lead to five after three quarters. MRA increased the lead to eight early in the fourth before the Raiders made a run to close the gap to two with just over a minute remaining in the game. JA got a clean look at a game-tying layup with 30 seconds left but it was denied and free throws at the end by MRA determined the final margin as JA fell 47-43. The Raiders had their overall record fall to 16-5 overall and 6-3 in conference play and they will enter next week?s tournament at JA as the #2 seed and MRA will be the #1 seed.

The Varsity Raiders lost to MRA 59-51 two weeks earlier at The Raider Dome and trailed by seven twice in the first quarter before Nick Bryan hit two big threes, along with a Wenton Walker jumper, to give JA a 15-14 lead after eight minutes. The second quarter saw a pair of ties and two lead changes as the Raiders led 31-29 at the break. The second half was a completely different story as MRA came out of the locker room on fire, scoring fifteen of the first sixteen points to take a double digit lead into the fourth quarter. The Raiders and Patriots traded baskets the entire fourth quarter as MRA topped JA 60-49 to drop the Raiders to 19-11 overall and 5-4 in conference play. Walker and Bryan combined to score 21 points and 14 rebounds to help pace the Raiders. JA will travel to Flowood next Tuesday to close out conference play against Jackson Prep and then to Memphis on Thursday to close out the regular season against MHEA.

University Heart Player with The Most Heart
Nick Bryan - the junior scored 10 points (3-6 FG, 3-3 3PT, 1-4 FT) and snagged 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and 1 steal in 18 minutes of action.

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