You can usually expect a down-to-the wire affair when the Raider Gold and Raider Green freshman boys basketball teams get together

Thursday night’s contest fit that mold as well, as the Raider Green squad got out to a big early lead, but had to h old on at the end for a 49-46 victory in the 2009-10 season finale for the Green squad.

With the win, Raider Green ended with a 7-6 mark. Raider Gold is also 7-6 with one game remaining on the schedule: a Monday night makeup contest at Hoke.

“The last time we played, the Gold team was much more physical, and they took it to us,” Raider Green coach Jay Jones said. “Tonight, I told the boys that I wanted the Gold team to be the ones leaving with the bruises.”

Raider Green opened the contest with an 8-0 run and led 16-5 at the first stop. The Green team led 28-15 at intermission.

Raider Gold began to chip away at the Raider Green lead, and had the deficit whittled to 10 points at 41-31 by the end of the third quarter.

With about three minutes left, Raider Gold made its move. Trailing 48-39, Raider Gold went on a 7-0 run, sparked by a Bobby Watkins jumper, to close the gap to a single bucket at 48-46 with 19.7 seconds remaining.

Raider Green forward Cody Wilson converted 1-of-2 free throws with 11 seconds left to give Raider Green a 49-46 advantage.

Raider Gold got itself into position for a potential game-tying 3-pointer, and Kendo Wallace was fouled on the shot with 0.7 seconds left. He made the first toss, but missed the second. That meant he had to miss the third toss on purpose, but the shot failed to draw iron and time expired.

“Both teamas played hard,” said Raider Gold coach Milwon Swinney. “”We came out a little sluggish at first. We were not being aggressive, but we were much more aggressive on defense in the second half, and that created some offensive opportunities for us.”

Robert Williams had 22 points for Raider Gold to lead all scorers. Wallace added 11 points for the Gold team.

B.J. Cook led Raider Green with 11 points. Taivon Jones had 10 and Josh Calhoun chipped in with eight.

Raider Gold girls 15, Raider Green 14

Earlier, the Raider Gold girls held off their Green rivals in a defense-dominated contest.

Raider Gold led just 9-4 at halftime, but the Green team outscored Raider Gold 6-0 in the third stanza to take a 10-9 lead into the final quarter.

The two teams traded the lead five times in the fourth before Kevyna Stanback’s jumper with 1:49 left gave the Gold team its winning margin. The Green team had several chances to answer in the final minute, but several costly turnovers thwarted those possessions.

Raider Gold was led by Michelle Covington with five points. Alexis Gibson led all scorers with eight points for Raider Gold.

Raider Gold is 11-2 heading into its final game of the season, a Monday night makeup contest at Hoke. Raider Green finishes the season at 6-6.

n Contact sports editor David Vantress at 997-3111, ext. 14 or via email at dvantress@yourdailyjournal.com.