Mathews High School’s gym was packed Friday night with spectators anticipating the big game between district rivals Mathews and Middlesex. The Blue Devil basketball team put up a tough fight, but fell to the squad’s district rivals, 69-51.

Middlesex took an early lead, but Mathews slowly crept back, erasing the deficit and pulling ahead to take a halftime lead into the locker room.

After halftime, the Chargers picked up the pace on defense and started running the offense through their All-State forward Ryheem Lockley. In doing this, Middlesex regained a 10-point advantage entering the final period. In the final quarter, the Chargers kept up the pressure to win by 18.

Deondre Foster led the scoring for the Devils with 20 points, followed by Deon Blake with eight points, Cody Kelly with seven and Dayshon Williamson with six. Rounding out the scoring for Mathews were Xavien Boone (five points), Gio Aromin (three points) and Detray Washington (two points).

Jayvee Devi...