Fuqua School’s and Buckingham County High School’s varsity boys basketball teams had not faced off in a regular season contest since 2009, and the reunion Tuesday featured a strong showing from the Falcons and a strong rally from the visiting Knights. The host team produced some clutch plays in the waning moments to hold on for a 63-60 victory.

“Really the game plan was just to come out, play hard and walk away with a ‘W’ like we did tonight,” Fuqua Head Coach Mike Edwards said.

The Falcons led 14-9 after the first quarter, 30-15 at halftime and 41-29 after three quarters.

Knights narrowed the gap on the scoreboard throughout the fourth quarter, and with about 37 second left, Buckingham junior guard Trevor Kelly hit a three-pointer tie the game, 60-60.

Then Fuqua junior forward/guard Matt Osborn drove at the other end of the floor and dished to freshman guard Tanner Thomas who calmly hit a short field goal for a 62-60 lead.

The Knights worked quickly to try to even the score, but Osborn blocked the shot attempt inside, rebounded the ball and was fouled. He hit one of two free throws with nine seconds to go, and Buckingham was unable to score in response.

Identifying what he felt was the key to victory, Edwards said, “Like I told our guys in the pregame, I was like, ‘It’s going to be about who wants it more. The only way we’re going to be successful is if we can hold them to one shot and one shot only. Shot goes up, we’ve got to box out and more importantly, once we box out, let’s get the rebound and let’s go run our offense.”

The team executed this game plan well, giving the 12-5 Falcons their sixth win in a row.

“As you could see down the stretch, my guys didn’t shy away from the intensity and the pressure of the game because they knew that we would come out, we would execute and we would be able to be successful,” Edwards said.

Osborn finished the game with 22 points, 17 rebounds, four blocks, three assists and two steals.

“Matt, this entire season, when we played down there in Franklin, he buries the three for us to beat Amelia, and then here he comes up with that block at the end and then knocks down the free throw,” Edwards said. “It’s just a team effort. Everybody coming in every day, working and just being ready to go, and it’s nothing else.”

Thomas finished with 15 points and five rebounds.

Edwards credited his bench players with being ready when called upon.

“Luke Gee stepped in, and he was big for us,” the coach said. “He hadn’t played much this entire season, but when his number was called tonight, he really stepped up for us, and that’s a testament to him just being ready to go.”

The loss briefly dropped Buckingham to .500 overall on the season, but the Knights went on to defeat visiting Appomattox County High School 60-48 on Wednesday to push their record to 8-7.

Reflecting on Tuesday’s game prior to the clash with the Raiders, Knights Head Coach Taylor Boyers said, “I think the game was really a game of two halves, where Fuqua really jumped out to a big lead on us in that first half. Fortunately enough, we were able to kind of rally and battle and give ourselves a chance at the end but (it) just didn’t work out for us … I’d say we just didn’t shoot the ball real well in that first half, but second half, I’m happy the way we responded …”

Sophomore guard Amari Toney led Buckingham with 14 points, while junior forward Jalen Chambers added 12.

The Knights and Fuqua will face off again Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Buckingham.

The Falcons will likely still be without injured standout junior point guard Jaylen Hempfield, who has been out since Jan. 5.

“He broke his wrist in our Peninsula Catholic game, but as of right now, he’s recovering very fast,” Edwards said. “So we’re hoping he has a speedy recovery, and we hope to have him back for the tail end of our season.”

The coach made it clear that Fuqua’s goal is to make it to the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association (VISAA) Division III state tournament, and he hopes the win over a public school team helps sway voters.

“I hope that it helps get other people on the board and the committees to see that we’re able to play at a high level — it doesn’t matter who it is, whether it’s a public or a private (school),” he said. “So I hope they can go and look and see that we’re playing a very tough schedule. … Playing two (Virginia High School League Class 6) schools and then playing a (Class 3) school and playing another one here in Buckingham, which is probably right now one of the teams who is in the hunt to win their district. So I hope they can see that we can play against the top-notch competition in (VISAA) Division III. It’s just on those guys on the committee saying, ‘They should be in.’”

The Falcons hosted Veritas School on Thursday.

On Friday at 7 p.m., Fuqua will host Liberty Christian Academy, while Buckingham will host Cumberland County High School (10-6).