On Tuesday night Seneca Valley Raiders were matched up against their section rival the Pine-Richland Rams.  The Seneca Valley Raiders had a record of six and three going into the game.  This game was extremely  important because the Raiders didn’t want to loss two games back to back.  The Raiders were trying to recover from a major defeat that they suffered by the number one team in the conference, New Castle, who beat the Raiders by 34 points in a 79- 45 blowout.

Meanwhile, the Pine-Richland Rams were ranked 7th in the conference with a record of seven and four and had yet to win within conference play.

In the first quarter the Raiders started out looking a bit rusty missing several shots bouncing off of either the rim or backboard.  With the Raiders faltering early the Rams took an early lead of four baskets by the end of the first period.

Eventually the Raiders found their groove and began making their comeback through the second period and by the end of the third period the two teams were neck and neck.  The middle of the game charge was led by senior Easton Bazzoli, who scored over 16 points, and senior Ryan McCauley who scored 10 points and won several key rebounds.

As the game neared the end of the regulation time Seneca Valley took a slight two point advantage.  This was when the Pine-Richland players started to foul the Raiders.  This strategy was an attempt by the Rams to get the ball back after the Raiders took their free throws in a comeback attempt of their own.  However, this strategy back fired when the Raiders made most of their free throws and played very solid defense only allowing one basket in the last minute and a half of the game.

With the final buzzer sounding the final score showed the Raiders having 55 points and the Rams having 48 points.  With the win the Raiders moved to a record of 7 and 3 and are now 4th in WPIAL Class AAAA Section 3.

On the other hand the Ram first win in the conference still alluded them and they dropped to an overall record of seven and five.

The next opponent for Seneca Valley will be the Hampton Talbots at 7:30 in the evening on Friday January 11^th.