Last Friday night, Magnet celebrated its 8 basketball seniors in their final regular season home game. The Raptors played Garrett Academy of Technology, and left with three wins on the night, defeating the JV Boys and both Varsity teams in resounding fashion. The varsity girls destroyed Garrett 53-19, continuing their fantastic season, as they currently sit in second in their region. The varsity boys won a tough game 69-61, placing themselves back in position for the upcoming playoffs. Before the final game of the night, the Raptor basketball seniors and their families were honored during the senior night ceremony, receiving flowers, their name plaque, and lots of recognition before a packed gym.

The night extended far beyond basketball, with the Varsity boys team leading a fundraiser for Magnet’s cross country coach, Brian Johnson, who was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. Close to 2,000 dollars were raised to be evenly donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society and directly to the Johnson family, supporting those fighting cancer worldwide. The main fundraising method was selling Magnet t-shirts, which the student section donned to collectively support the effort. Coach Johnson’s wife and two children were brought out to half court after the senior night by Coach Hoffman, who spoke for a few minutes on Coach Johnson and his lasting impact on Magnet, and that he plans to be back with the Cross Country team at the start of next season.

The girls opened up their game on a massive run, ending the first quarter up by more than 20 points. Seniors Natasha Tirpak, Isabel Eicher, Hanna Kent, and English Laserna all started alongside sophomore Lily Ku, scoring a majority of their points in transition as they beat the Falcons up and down the court continuously over the course of the game. The boys followed up the girls impressive performance with a close win, expanding upon their halftime lead to an eight-point victory. The game was full of drama right until the end, with senior Alex Pastis fouling out late in the fourth quarter. A technical foul was called on Garrett shortly after, and a flagrant foul on me put Garrett on the line down four with around a minute left. After a few free throw misses and some big rebounds, Magnet sealed the deal at their foul line, pushing the lead to 69-61 to finish the game.

Pictures from the night can be found here, courtesy of Cora de Arellano.