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Nathan Bogdanowicz passes the ball to a teammate just as the Knights try to snatch it away in Tuesday night’s game.
Hannah Styles
hstyles@thesmokymountaintimes.com
On Tuesday, the Maroon Devils varsity basketball team played the Robbinsville Black Knights in the third round of the Smoky Mountain Conference tournament and kept fans on the edge of their seat the entire game. The Devils ended up winning 66-61 against the Black Knights, who had previously beat Swain by one point a few weeks back.
Swain started out trailing Robbinsville in the first quarter 18-12. Going into halftime, Robbinsville was leading the game by five points, but Swain took vengeance on the Knights after the half. With 5 minutes left in the final quarter, Swain was leading by three points after some great three pointer action by the Devils. With 4:54 left on the clock, the game was tied 50-50, but a three-pointer brought it to 53-50 within seconds.
With only a minute left in the game, the Devils had blasted into a nine-point lead but battled it out with Robbinsville till the very end to win 66-61.
The win advanced the Devils to the final round on Friday to play the number one ranked Hayesville Yellow Jackets. It will be a battle of the best.
The last time the Devils saw the Yellow Jackets, it wasn’t a good day for Swain, with a difficult game, including questionable calls, fan ejections, and even a player removal. Let’s hope this Friday’s game will be a fair shot for all those involved.