On Tuesday night the Highland Rams and the Murray Spartans took the court. The Rams won by a score of 55-49, this win continued their win streak totaling 3 in a row.

Both teams had a very slow pace in the first half. The rams totaled 19 points in the half while the Spartans were limited to 13 points. As the game went to halftime it was shaping up to be a very defensive and low scoring game.

The Rams players were thinking otherwise, as the Rams came out they caught fire. They scored 19 points in the third quarter alone equalling their score from the whole first half.

“The first four minutes of every third quarter is crucial,” junior Liki Makaui said. “We had a mentality of not relaxing and letting our guard down, we still had to play with the same energy and intensity we were playing with the whole game.”

At the end of the third quarter it was looking like a win for the Rams. They were winning by 12 with what looked to be momentum on their side. They had held the Spartans to 13 points in the quarter and were looking ready to finish the job.

Despite the odds the Spartans weren’t done fighting yet they came out in the the fourth quarter ready to win. They scored 23 points, almost equaling their score from the rest of the game. But the Rams scored 17 points and the Spartans effort wasn’t quite enough. They were able to bring the lead down to 6 points but the end of the game came before they could do any more.

The Rams game plan was to play aggressive and they felt that they accomplished that very well in the game.

“Tonight we did good in transition and rebounding,” Makaui said. “Our focus today was to rebound and run and we really came through with those two elements.”

Helping to accomplish that goal there were a few big performances from the players. Makaui had 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists. Senior Trayton Keyes had 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 1 assist. Junior Christian Rich had 13 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists.

This win was the last regular season game for the Rams and they will go into the playoffs as the two seed in the region only trailing the Olympus Titans. They look to make a deep playoff run after a successful season.