The Wildcats played a hard-fought game against the Lutheran North Crusaders on Spirit Night but ultimately lost 50-49 in a nailbiter.

North led by as much as ten towards the end of the third period but was forced to withstand a furious rally by the Wildcats. Jack Dohr, senior, scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, including 10 straight to give the Wildcats a 44-42 lead with 2:39 to play, their first since the opening minutes of the game.

“Jack played great. He is a key part of our team and an incredibly good player. He is a great rebounder, passer, and scorer,” said John Eric Steiner, senior.

Lutheran North retook the lead late on a pair of free throws by Isaiah Holman, junior. They then kept their hard-earned lead with a pair of rebounds and successful free throws by Renell Wren, junior, making the score 50-46. The game ended with Dohr sinking a long three-pointer to make the final score 50-49.

While the Wildcats lost, they still can build off the things that they did well against the Crusaders.

“It was a bummer to lose but we did get good experience playing a good team. We continued to capitalize on good opportunities and moved the ball around well. Along with that, defensive efficiency was evident in the game,” said Steiner.

The Wildcats will have the opportunity to put their loss behind them with two games in the next week, both against teams they have already beaten. They host MICDS on Tuesday the 5th and travel to Lutheran South on Friday the 8th.

The game was played on Spirit Night, which brought a huge student section to the game. The bleachers were packed with a crowd of enthusiastic students and other members of the Westminster community. The crowd stayed loud in their support for the Wildcats, which the players were grateful for.

“I love playing in front of big crowds, It gets the blood pumping and adrenaline going. I love when I have to yell at people on the court to get their attention because the gym is so loud,” said Steiner.

The regulars in the Blue Crew were also grateful for the student body’s increased participation in support of the team.

“The Spirit Night game was more fun than usual because we had a ton more students show up,” said Blue Crew regular Jonny Kinney, junior.