On Friday, January 23rd, the Hope Christian Huskies came to the East Campus Gym to face off against the Academy Chargers in what was a high-stakes district boys varsity basketball game. Coming into the game, Academy was 12-5, having won their district opener against Valley. Hope came in at 11-6 with a district win against Bernalillo in their back pocket. This was expected to be a close matchup, and the outcome could go either way. The deciding factor would be if the Chargers could use Hunter A. ‘26, the 6’11” center, and let his height advantage pull away the game on 6′ 8” Hope center Conor D. If Conor could stop Hunter, that would put the Huskies in a great position. Both student sections showed out, setting the stage for an exciting game.

As the first quarter tipped off, Hope already took a lead, unexpectedly winning the tipoff and scoring three times to get a 6-0 lead, shocking everyone with the quick start. At this point, Academy was desperate for a spark. It was an uninspiring start, and the Chargers had to battle to be down 8-10 five and a half minutes in. Then, with 1:49 left to go in the quarter, Academy guard Brian N. ‘26 was fouled as he hit a layup, giving him an opportunity. As Brian shot the free throw, pandemonium broke out. Someone in the Hope student section blew an air horn as he shot. Obviously, this scared people, but it wasn’t the first time it had happened today. In the JV game, which was played before, someone did the exact same thing. As you would expect, the commentator warned the students and said it could affect the team. Brain made the free throw, and the quarter ended soon with the Huskies leading 12-11.

For the second quarter, Academy clearly needed to step up their game and stop the sloppy play. At the beginning, it was uninspiring. Hope small forward Brayden G. drained two threes, and Charger guard Zac B. ‘27 had to keep the team in the game all across the court. Really, the defense was the reason this game wasn’t getting out of hand already. A beautiful pass from Zac led to the momentum swinging in favor of Academy when junior guard Lukas G. ‘27 hit a three from the corner. At the end of the half, Academy was down 25-30, but you could tell something was brewing in the locker room.

From the second Academy inbounded the ball at the start of the second half, you could tell they weren’t ready to play. Hope forward Landon C. was going wild, racking up points and assists. Then, when a bad call was made by the refs, the Chargers’ Coach Broussard was charged with a technical foul. Hope made the two free throws, and all of a sudden, they were up seven with 5:28 to go in the quarter with energy low for Academy fans. 

Then, after an Academy free throw, some mindless Hope student decided to point a laser at the referee’s eyes. This gave Academy possession, but, more importantly, it was the final warning for both student sections. If a person in either student section did something again, both sections would be kicked out of the game. But after this, something changed in the way Academy was playing. Landon drained a three, the Chargers broke a full-court press, and passing and shooting were just looking better. Zac made a three, and it was a two-point game with all the momentum in the world for Academy. The Huskies’ fans were silent, and you could feel the excitement as a Charger fan. With 51 seconds left, Zac hit yet another three-pointer, and things were looking great for Academy. The third quarter buzzer sounded, and the Chargers were up by one on the Huskies.

You could tell the atmosphere in the building was heating up. Everyone was excited to see the outcome of this nail-biter. Unfortunately for the Chargers, they let up seven points and were down 46-42 two minutes in. But, fueled by Hunter’s great rebounding, Academy pulled back into it and made a three. They then stopped Hope on defense, and Hope’s rattled coach called a timeout with four minutes remaining.

After the timeout, Hope started controlling the game, leaving the Chargers with no choice but to intentionally foul. As time ticked down, Academy was left in a two-possession game for the rest of the time, and they couldn’t make any three-pointers when they needed them most. Hunter made a layup at the buzzer, but it wasn’t enough, and Hope Christian won 61-58.

Looking back at this game, it was the early first-quarter mistakes that held Academy back from winning. If their offense hadn’t played sloppily, then they would have easily made it a win. Those turnovers really would’ve switched this to a fifteen-point blowout.

Looking ahead, Academy still has an okay chance of winning the district. But, after a twenty-point loss to Del Norte on Tuesday, they have to win their second matchups against Hope, Del Norte, and Valley, as well as sweeping Bernalillo. They should make the state tournament, and we hope to see them play in The Pit!