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AMERICUS – The Southland Academy Raiders (SAR) were hoping to score a victory at home against the Glenwood Gators (GS) from Smiths Station, AL. However, the Raiders were unable to stop the Gators’ potent offense and went on to lose to GS by the score of 65-42 at the Melvin Kinslow Gymnasium on Saturday.

“They’re big and we don’t have a whole lot of size. We are a guard team,” SAR Head Coach Kevin Douglas said. “It makes it quite difficult to stop when you’ve got a couple of big guys in there that you just can’t match with, but it was a hard-fought game. They just out played us.”

Perry Usher led the Raiders in scoring with 16 points and Banks Simmons had 10. Charles Crisp almost cracked the double figures scoring column, as he chipped in eight points in the losing cause.

The Raiders jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the game, but the Gators responded with a 7-2 run to tie the game at 7-7. Over the remaining minutes of the first quarter, both teams traded baskets and were tied at 12-12 by the end of the quarter.

Over the first few minutes of the second quarter, the Gators went on a 7-2 run that was capped off by two made free throws from Mason McCraine. However, Banks Simmons was able to knock down a three-pointer to bring the Raiders to within two at 19-17. Shortly thereafter, SAR would tie the game on a basket by Perry Rusher.

However, GS responded with a 5-0 run of their own before Usher scored again, making the score 24-21 Gators. However, Jadarian Holloway drilled a three-pointer for GS, prompting Douglas to call a timeout with just under two minutes left before halftime.

Out of the timeout, the Raiders tried to cut into their deficit, but went into halftime trailing GS 31-23.

GS went on a 6-2 run to start the second half, but shortly thereafter, Mac McMichael knocked down a three-pointer to cut the Raiders’ deficit to 37-30. However, the Gators outscored SAR 6-2 over the next few minutes before Douglas called another timeout with 2:24 left in the third quarter.

However, out of the timeout, the Gators went on another run and led by as much as 16 points before Simmons knocked down two foul shots for the Raiders.

With one more quarter to play, the Raiders tried desperately to get themselves back into the game, but unfortunately for SAR, they were unable to stop the Gators’ offense and would go on to lose to GS by the score of 65-42.

Jadarian Holloway led the Gators in scoring with 18 points and Mason McCraine chipped in 14 in the winning cause.

The Raiders (5-5) will try to get back into the win column when they host Terrell Academy on Tuesday, January 16, at 8 p.m.