Basketball season is underway! The Raiders played several games in this first week of the season, giving Raider Nation much to look forward to this season.
The 1-5 start of the Raider varsity girls should not be a season predictor. In this week’s losses, they were only outscored by 9 points per game. Tomisin Adenupe is off to a great start, averaging 20 points. Her play was highlighted by a 23-point outing in a 16-point victory over Dunwoody on Saturday. Adenupe’s game has continued to develop as she has put a
The Raider varsity boys earned a record of 4-1 in this first week of the season. Averaging 17 points per game so far, junior point guard Luka Avaliani seems poised for a big season after his recent tour with the Georgian National basketball team. Senior David Sickles has started the season off strong as well, averaging 13 points per game. Sickles scored 22 points in the season opener against Osborne and 14 in the victory over Harrison coming through yet again in crunch time. Sickles now has made 4 three pointers this year with the game inside five minutes or in an overtime period, giving the Raiders a closer if they need one. Senior Cole Morris thus far has averaged a double double and played strong defense in the paint. Cole is a key component of the offense as the team feeds the ball inside to Morris and relies on him to pass out of double teams to shooters or take the ball up himself. Another big man to watch this season is sophomore Johnathon Awolyee, providing a spark off of the bench with his athleticism and length on the defensive end. While this is his first season on varsity, many who are inside the program saw this coming for Awolyee. In only his second year of competitive basketball play, Awolyee was a force on the junior varsity team last year, earning him the MVP. A new face to the program is freshman forward Pearce Spurlin. Pearce missed the first four games of the season, as he started at wide receiver for the varsity football team, but in his first game on varsity against Duluth scored 14 points. Pearce will provide the team with solid defense on the wing as well as the athleticism to finish at the basket and through contact. The Raiders will play North Cobb at home this Saturday at 3:30.