In the final week heading into the Christmas break, the Mathews High School boys’ varsity basketball team split a pair of games, losing to King William, 54-44, on Tuesday, Dec. 13 and beating West Point, 65-59, on Friday.

In the King William game, Mathews was trailing by almost 20 points at the end of three quarters of play. The Devils closed the gap late in the game, but still fell to the Cavaliers by 10 points at the final buzzer.

Mathews’ leading scorer on the night was Stuart Anderson Jr., with 19 points. He was followed by Elijah Willis with seven, Ethan Armistead with six, Jalen Matthews with five, Christian Williams with three, and Michael Cooke and Tylon Forrest with two each.

It was a different story on Friday as the home-standing Devils jumped out to a 13-point halftime lead. West Point shot well in the second half, and closed the gap. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils were only ahead by three points. Mathews managed to stay ahead, mainly...