By Nicole Laidlaw
Sports Correspondant
Oxford’s Varsity boys basketball team’s slow start has taken a quick turnaround. The Wildcats are recovering from their five straight losses they piled up before their first victory last Tuesday against Holly.
They won their second game of the season against the Brandon Blackhawks Jan. 12 78-68, to put them on a two-game winning streak.
Both Oxford and Brandon had a record of 1-5 going into Friday’s game.
The entire first half, the Wildcats and the Blackhawks were neck and neck and battling for the lead.
The game up to the end of the half was only within a few points, but the Wildcats managed to squeak by leading by a point at half-time.
The score was 34-33 beginning the second half, but the Wildcats came out knowing that a one point lead would not be enough.
Playing with intensity, the Cats put in an additional 44 points throughout the second half to take the game by ten, and put them at .500 in the FML.
‘Friday night was the best game we played all year,? said Coach Steve Laidlaw. ‘We were able to put four quarters together.?
Senior Brandon Dugan had an all around great performance against the Blackhawks. He led the Wildcats in scoring with 31 points. He also had seven steals, seven rebounds and six assists.
Juniors Chris Keenist and Russell Luxton both had eight rebounds each. Keenist also put in nine points, along with juniors Zach Tilley and Ryan Markowitz.
THIS JUST IN: Last night, Oxford beat Linden 55-35. The Cats outscored Linden in all four quarters. The team is now 3-5 overall and 3-2 in the FML.