Davis High’s men’s varsity basketball team fought hard but came up short in a 63-60 loss to the Whitney Wildcats on Jan. 27.

The game was an intense back-and-forth battle, with Whitney jumping to an early 22-15 lead after the first quarter. However, Davis bounced back in the second, closing a 10-point deficit to trail by just four at halftime, 33-29.

Davis made up more ground in the third quarter, with freshman Rhys Crawford and senior Jordan McMurray playing crucial roles on defense.

Davis managed to tie the game at 59-59 in the final minute. With 23 seconds left, the team had a chance to tie the game again on the free-throw line, but a missed second shot left them trailing by one point.

“We played hard,” Crawford said. “We just couldn’t finish it out, but we’ll take the positives and keep improving.”

Head coach Stephen Smith praised the team’s growth over the past month. “We’re playing much better than we were earlier in the season,” he said. “We just need to clean up our free throws.”

With playoff hopes still alive, the team is focused on building off their recent improvement. “We just need to stay hungry and keep playing as a team,” McMurray said.