Raiders pushed by Panthers

It wasn’t easy, but Lomega got it done.

The Raiders on Saturday held off a stubborn Mulhall-Orlando squad at home to win their Class B district championship, 63-56.

Blake Snowden, Owen Duffy and Kelby Ott combined to score all 20 of Lomega’s fourth quarter points to beat the 20thranked Panthers.

Ott knocked down two 3-pointers and scored eight points in the final quarter.

Snowden scored seven of his nine points and Duffy added five to his already considerable total.

The trio combined to make 6 of 9 free throws in the frame.

It helped the Raiders withstand Shawn Burgess’ performance.

The M-O sophomore scored 11 fourth-quarter points and had 24 on the night.

It just wasn’t enough. Duffy scored nine in the first, but the Raiders trailed by two points.

He was one of six Raiders to score in the second as they outscored the Panthers 18-9 for a seven-point halftime lead.

The lead was six entering the fourth.

Duffy ended his night with 21 points.

Ott knocked down four treys total and scored 14.

Unranked Lomega is now 16-8 and will play No. 18 Coyle on the Bluejackets’ home court at 8 p.m. Thursday in a regional winner’s bracket game.

The Lomega girls will take on Coyle in the game prior to that.

They stayed in the winner’s bracket with their 88-12 victory against Agra in the district title matchup.

Agra scored just two points in each of the first three quarters.

Meanwhile, Lomega had enough points to win in the game’s first few minutes.

The Lady Raiders scored 33 points in the first quarter as Hensley Eaton and Abby Swart made four 3-pointers apiece.

The barrage continued with 27 second-quarter points.

Lomega made 16 3-point-ers total.

Eaton made six of them and scored 21 points, 19 in the first half.

Swart’s five led to her game-high 23 points.

Monse Rivera added three more as part of her 11 points.

Lomega also got eight points from Kate Myers and seven from Shelby Russell.

The top-ranked and two-time defending state champs enter the regional with a 19-5 record.