Nolan Kruske

Junior point guard Calan Gregory warms up for a home game against SM West.

The Raiders boys basketball team hosted the 1st-ranked SM Northwest Cougars on Friday, February 2 – the same day when John Ballard, Bill McGowan, and Jeff Ingram were inducted into the Shawnee Mission South Hall of Fame. It was a hall-of-fame level game between two highly skilled teams. 

The Raiders won the tip and the game was on. The first quarter was solid defensively, as the score at the end of the quarter was 7-8 Cougars. There were some missed opportunities by the Raiders to score some more points in the first quarter. 

In the second quarter, freshman Connor Kerrigan provided a spark off the bench limiting the Cougars’ 7-foot center to 3 points in the quarter and Kerrigan scoring 4 of his own. At the end of the second quarter, the Raiders were only down 1 with a score of 21-20. 

In the second half, the Cougars started strong with a 9-0 run due to a lot of second-chance opportunities. After that run, the Raiders started to lock up on defense and prevent more easy shots but still struggled to make a shot.

“We shot 16% from three going 3-18,” sophomore Drake DeBaun said. “That’s terrible.”

They attempted 18 3-pointers and only made three of them.

At the end of the third quarter, the Raiders were down 35-26.

With a minute and a half left in the game, the Raiders were within 3 points of the Cougars thanks to some big-time 3-pointers from junior Calan Gregory, but in the end, the Raiders couldn’t come up with the victory as the game finished with the final score of Cougars 42 Raiders 36.

“Well, we did well as we held them to 42 points,” Gregory said. “They’re averaging at least over 60. Down the stretch, we could not have a shot to put the ball in the hole and win the game.”

The Raiders will play Lawrence High School at SM South on Tuesday, February 6.