The Mathews High School gym was rocking on Saturday night. The host Blue Devils faced off against the Gloucester Dukes as the boys’ basketball teams from neighboring school districts met on the court.

The varsity teams didn’t disappoint the capacity crowd, with Mathews rallying late in the contest to pull out a thrilling 49-46 victory. In all, the MHS varsity boys picked up four victories during the past week, also defeating King William, Charles City and West Point to improve the Devils’ record to 9-7 overall.

While Saturday’s game was not a district matchup, it certainly was the highlight of the week for the Mathews boys.

From the opening tipoff, it appeared that Mathews would dominate, with Jarius Monroe hitting a three-pointer to start the scoring and the Devils going on to take an 11-0 lead before the Dukes called a timeout. Then Gloucester went on a run of its own, putting up seven unanswered points. Both teams settled down and Mathews took a na...