On the evening of Friday, January 16th the Academic Magnet Raptors faced off against the Phillip Simmons IronHorses. Through the couple of Magnet students I talked to before the game occurred, the common thought was that Magnet was, “about to get the belt”. Senior Keon Hutchins when asked if he was going to the game said, “I’ve seen them lose so many times I can’t go back” little did Mr Hutchins know, he would live to regret this forever. Unlike some students pregame expectations, the players on the squad had incredible confidence, with Campbell Senior Stoklosa, who played exceptionally well saying, “we are gonna surprise some people tonight” As the game time came closer, the energy in the gym started to really pick up, and the feeling of a potential program changing victory arose. For a basketball game, there was actually a surprising amount of students in the birdcage, including Porter-Gaud student and friend of the program Grant Streck, who pregame said, “im never coming back” Grant’s opinion however would change. Player intros were filled with energy and the Phillip Simmons team looked intimidating, but looks can be deceiving. There was also some major surprise in the Magnet starting lineup, with Campbell Stoklosa getting a surprise not to start for the first time this year. This turned out to be maybe the best decision that Jaidon’s dad had made this year. As the whistle blew and the game started, the infamous number “5”(a common villain) immediately hit a three. A couple of possessions later, he took a shot right in front of the birdcage, as he loaded up, Daniel Haung yelled, “Brick” but he was wrong and it was all net, 5 continued to then stare the students down and blow Daniel a kiss, much to his dismay. At this point 5 was really feeling himself, so he took a deep shot, and missed, this would become an extremely common theme for bro. As 5 continued to jack up shots, and at this point miss about 3 in a row, the birdcage came up with a creative chirp, chanting “keep 5 in” as at this point the IronHorses so called best player was one of the Raptors biggest assets.as the game continued, and 5 continued to miss other players on phil started to really pick it up, causing some mild concern for the Raptors. Half time rolled around and saw the Raptors down 13, but whatever Jaidon’s dad said at half worked, as the Raptors came out hot. With new starter Campbell Stoklosa being all over the floor, diving for loose balls, and really showing a Dennis Rodman esque playstyle. Stoklosa’s hustle was accompanied by Billy “Buckets” Bear, the sharpshooter that provided an instant impact once he stepped on the floor. Billy, a future Virgina Cavalier, really showed the Iron Horses what it means to be a Student-Athlete, undeniably schooling them on the court. Billy continued to make it rain from deep, and the student section was really feeding off the energy that Billy “Buckets” provided, especially Senior, Henry Lannan, who had a couple scares of a technical foul for him celebrating so much he ended up on the court. As the 3rd quarter came to a close, the Raptors were suddenly up either 8 or 9 points. I’m not really sure. So here we were, the Raptors were up going into the 4th, something almost no one expected coming into the game. It’s safe to say that Birdcage was rocking, much to the appreciation of Coach Knauer. As the 4th quarter commenced, the Iron Horses came out hot which greatly spooked a majority of the students including Daniel Huang(a future Duke Blue Devil btw) who expressed his fear with the statement, “we’re cooked” however, Billy Buckets wouldn’t let Phil come back, not on his watch. Billy continued to provide scoring for the raptors, and held our lead up to one minute left. It came down to this, Phillip Simmons was dribbling the ball down the court, missed a shot and Guard Omari grabbed the rebound. He was immediately fouled, with the Raptors at the Charity stripe, the Birdcages confidence had suddenly risen again, and discussions of Storming the Court were increasing. However, free throws aren’t easy, especially when there is the level of pressure that was in the gym. Both free throws were missed and the board was grabbed by the Iron Horses with about 11 seconds left, the drive down the court and almost simultaneously the Iron Horses Guard pulled up to shoot, but at the same time, Phillp Simmons coach made a decision he will likely lose sleep over, actually he probably already has as this game ended last week. According to the refs, the timeout was made before the foul was called, and Jaidon’s dad was ecstatic. After the refs had some discussion about the playclock, I believe 3 seconds were added, and Phillip Simmons had a plan, give it to #5, at this time I was expecting 5 to hit a buzzer beater, due to the fact that he had been off recently, and is normally hitting the shots he missed, so he was due. However, he wasn’t due yet, as he got the ball of the inbound pull, up and hit a straight rim. The Birdcage erupted with joy and almost immediately Coach Knauer had to prevent an immediate storming of the court. The students had been informed to wait until the opposing team, especially number 5 was off the court. As the players left the court the students were allowed to go on, and they immediately went over to Jaidon, an underrated contributor of the day, who was lifted up by Senior Blake Yarborough, a Jaidon Superfan. Its safe to say the boys had a good night, at least the Magnet ones and one Philip Simmons student who came out of the locker room, and announced that he was planning on transferring to the Raptors, are we getting active in the portal, I guess so(Coach Knauer = Lane Kiffin I guess) So the final question is, is Magnet Basketball Back, the answer is a simple yes, and you can be apart of it to, make sure to check the schedule and come out the the next game.