Sports

Dukes Go Head To Head With Warwick Raiders

Reporter Makenna Keyes

On Tuesday Jan. 14, 2020, the Gloucester Dukes faced off with the Warwick Raiders, but sadly fell, 54-74. Late in the fourth quarter senior Jayden Whiting goes down and had to be carried off the court.

In the beginning of the first quarter the Dukes took control early and held their lead for the majority of the game. Juwan Thortan showed within the first points for the Dukes, he came to play. Thortan having back to back points on offense to set the intensity for Gloucester.

On the defensive side of the court the Dukes held the Raiders to fewer digits then Gloucester. The Dukes had Warwick forcing up unnecessary shots and giving Gloucester the opportunity to grab the rebound and push it up the floor in transition. The Dukes were up at the end of the first quarter and were not backing down.

Going into the second quarter the Dukes continued to push and try their hardest to stay on top of everything. Gloucester went into a man defense and was holding it down forcing turnover after turnover from the Raiders. Warwick started to get frustrated and tried taking it out on the Dukes. They were talking smack to them to see if it would fluster the Dukes, but they did not back down. By the end of the quarter Gloucester was up and went into the locker room with confidence.

The start of the third quarter, the Dukes continue to battle the Raiders in the game going back in fourth. Warwick came out a new team and being extra aggressive on defense and more focused on offense. About half of the quarter Gloucetser was in the lead and by the end of the third the Dukes find themselves coming up short.

Going into the fourth quarter down the Dukes try to light a fire under themselves, but Warwick just kept pushing and playing aggressive. In the middle of the quarter while getting back on defense senior, Jayden Whiting, collapses to the ground holding his knee. “ .. The dude ran into me. I twisted my leg the wrong way and heard a crack.” About a month back Whiting had a scary fall against Phoebus and was out for a few games after and including the Christmas Tournament being told his ACL was torn. Whiting had to be carried off the court and left the school in a wheelchair and must have surgery on his ACL.

With this depressing moment happening the Dukes had to continue through the game with Whiting in their thoughts as he cheered them on from the sidelines in a wheelchair refusing to leave his team before the game is finished. The Dukes fell to the Raiders 54-74 in a long hard fight.

The lead scorer for the Dukes was Juwan Thorton with 29 smooth points. Of course Thorton would not have been able to do so if it was not for his team and their defense on getting fast breaks and feeding him while he was hot. The Gloucester Dukes play again Friday Jan. 17, 2020 against the Woodside Wolverines.