Mays picks up 'intensity' in senior night victory over Villa Rica

On Friday, the Mays Raiders and Villa Rica Wildcats met for the second and final time of the regular season as the Raiders look to complete the season regular season sweep, having defeated the Wildcats 82-46 last month. As the game got underway, the Raiders would come out looking to set the tone defensively as the Wildcats would win possession on the opening tip, but the duo of #5 and #4 would force Villa Rica to turn the ball over leading to a #4 dun for the early 2-0 lead. However, Villa Rica would respond with a three point basket to take the one point lead and close the opening quarter with a 12-7 lead.

In the second quarter, the Raiders would open up with a 7-0 run including a three point basket by #2 as Mays would regain the lead, going up 13-12 and eventually take their largest lead of the night going up by eight points as they led the Wildcats 27-19 at the half. In the third quarter, the Wildcats would get within five points as they cut the Raiders lead down to 34-29, but a 10-2 run would allow Mays to close out the quarter leading 44-31. In the fourth quarter, Mays would go up by as many as 16 points and would eventually close out with the 58-50 win.

After the victory, Mays head coach, Desmond Williams Sr. noted that in addition to them picking up the win, across town Midtown defeated Maynard Jackson, therefor allowing the Raiders to secure the number three seed ahead of the Georgia High School Association Class 5A, Region 5 tournament. "It definitely was there night," Williams said of his team and in particular, the Raiders seniors. "Those guys have been here for the long haul. They've bled, had tears, sweat and for them to go out there with a packed crowd like it was tonight, I was definitely happy," Williams senior said of seeing his senior class pick up the win in their final regular season home game.

In addressing the Raiders slow start, Williams Sr. stated that he anticipated there would be a chance of his starting five taking some time to get into a rhythm as it was the first time that the particular group opened up a game together. "I knew it was going to be a slow start but them picking it up, the intensity, it just let me know that they're really ready for the region tournament," Williams Sr. said.