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From PCA Athletics

Basketball season is official underway at Pungo Christian Academy as the Raiders split a pair of games at Epiphany School in New Bern.

The Lady Raiders found themselves down 13 – 1 to start the first quarter before closing the deficit to two points going into the second half. A back and forth third quarter found Pungo down 28 – 27 heading into the fourth. PCA was unable to stop an 8 – 0 run by Epiphany midway through the fourth as the Lady Falcons went on to win 41 – 32. Julia Rouse led the Lady Raiders with 15 points, going 7 – 10 from the foul line. Kacey Keech was the next highest scorer with five.

In the boys game, the Falcons jumped out to a nine point lead two minutes in to the first period and would be up by as many as 14 throughout the first half before the Raiders trimmed their lead to nine going into the break.

Pungo outscored Epiphany 17 – 6 in the third quarter to take a 2-point advantage heading into the final period. The Raiders pushed their lead to eight before the Falcons rallied in the final minutes to cut the lead to two.

Marshall Ricks iced the game in the final seconds, making three out of four at the line to set the final score at 49 – 44 in favor of the Raiders. Ricks and Evan Woolard each had a double-double with Woolard scoring 17 and grabbing 12 boards while Ricks also had 17 and snagged 11 rebounds. The duo was also solid at the charity stripe, shooting a combined 12 – 15.

The Raiders traveled to Faith Christian in Rocky Mount Tuesday before hosting their annual Tip Off Tournament Thursday and Friday. Christ Covenant, Halifax Academy and TEACH will join the Raiders in this year’s event.