The Ransom Everglades boys’ varsity basketball team continued to fight Tuesday night against Palmer Trinity in the Henry H. Anderson ‘38 Gymnasium but ultimately fell short with a final score of 40-43. The Raiders were led by Lucas Ortiz ‘21, scoring 19 points. 

During the first quarter, the Raiders dominated the defensive side of the court, only allowing the Falcons to score six points. Offensively, RE started off a bit slow but picked it up with Aidan Rothstein ‘22 scoring a three-point basket. The quarter ended with the Raiders up 10-6.  

However, the Falcons started to come back during the second quarter. It was a low scoring quarter for the Raiders, and with just seconds left to go, Ortiz tied the game with a buzzer-beater three-pointer, ending the half in a 16-16 tie.  

“It was just one of those nights where the ball wouldn’t go in the basket. Defensively we played great, and obviously we have to make shots if we are going to make a run in the playoffs,” Head Coach Scott Berman said. “At halftime, we wanted to get the ball into the post and see if we could get Zach [Marcus ‘22] going, which worked well, but we got away from it as the second half went on.” 

RE quickly regained the lead in the third quarter, with Marcus scoring two layups off of post moves. But the Falcons kept the game close and eventually took the lead with seconds left in the quarter with a layup. The quarter ended with Palmer Trinity up 26-27. 

“We definitely let them dictate the pace of the game, and it caused us to play to their pace,” Daniel Ribeiro ‘23 said. “We need to learn how to make teams play to our pace and make sure we control the game on both sides on the ball.” 

With RE down by one, the fourth quarter was a faced-paced and back–and–forth quarter. Ribeiro reclaimed the lead for the Raiders with a three-pointer, and Marcus followed with a three-pointer as well. Tied with three seconds to go, the Raiders called a timeout, but could not execute a play, sending the game to overtime.  

Ortiz tied the game with 53 seconds to go in OT, but the Raiders could not hold onto the lead, ending the game with a 40-43 loss. 

“I think that was definitely our worst loss of the season, and we just have to bounce back next game by putting the ball in the basket,” Ortiz said. “I thought our defense was pretty good this game, but we couldn’t make a shot to save our lives. We were the better team, but we didn’t play to our standard, and that’s why we lost.” 

The RE boys’ varsity basketball team now has a record of 13-7 and will continue to fight for another win on Thursday night at Somerset Academy.