Assured of a playoff spot after Tuesday's win over Berkner, the Ranger basketball squad clinched second place in University Interscholastic League (UIL) District 9-6A after defeating Richardson, 68-59, on Friday, Feb. 10 in front of a packed senior night crowd at Walsh Gymnasium.
 
Senior Mitch Prendergast posted 23 points, his fifth performance of 20 points or more this season. Shooting 7-of-15 from the floor, Prendergast additionally went 7-of-8 from the free-throw line, helping the Rangers finish Friday with a 66.7 percent conversion rate from the charity stripe.
 
Fellow fourth year Jeff Grimes posted Jesuit's first double-double of the year, scoring 10 points on a perfect, 4-for-4 evening from the field while dragging down 10 rebounds. Grimes continued to plague the Eagles, recording his first career double-double in the final meeting of the season between the two after scoring a career-high 20 points against the Eagles on Jan. 17. Junior Marcus Hill added 13 points with seven rebounds, fellow third year Michael Jankovich added 12 points while tying Grimes for a squad-leading four assists.
 
Jesuit (19-10, 9-4 UIL 9-6A) out-rebounded Richardson (18-11, 8-5), 33-31, scoring 30 points in the paint and scoring 15 points off of 13 Richardson turnovers. Xavier Elam scored a team-leading 17 points for the Eagles, but Richardson could not withstand a late Jesuit rush which saw the Rangers outscore the Eagles, 23-15, in the final quarter.
 
Shooting 6-of-11 in the first, Jesuit took a six-point lead after ending the quarter on a 12-6 run. The Rangers built the lead to eight points with 4:56 remaining after Jankovich converted a traditional three-point play. Richardson came storming back, unleashing a 13-0 run to take a five-point lead with 1:48 left in the half.
 
Jesuit was able to garner momentum heading into halftime with four unanswered points to end the quarter, scoring the last four points to whittle the Richardson lead to one point heading into the break.
 
Richardson aimed to capture control in the third, using a 10-2 run to build another multi-possession lead. At the 3:58 mark of the third, the Rangers began its run at the lead, going on a 12-4 run of their own. Grimes scored a traditional three-point play with 51 seconds remaining in the third to complete Jesuit's comeback, handing the Blue and Gold a one-point lead going into the fourth. Back-to-back buckets by Jankovich and Prendergast put the Rangers up six, but Richardson had one final comeback in store, taking a one-point lead with 5:12 remaining.
 
Jankovich drew another traditional three-point play with 4:52 left in the game to hand the lead right back to the Rangers, followed by a layup from Prendergast that put Jesuit up by four. Richardson went cold down the stretch, going 0-for-7 from three-point range, while Jesuit converted six of its final eight free-throw attempts to clinch the victory.
 
Jesuit will conclude the 2016-17 regular season on the road against state-ranked No. 4 Skyline on Tuesday, Feb. 14. The Rangers and Raiders, both playoff bound, will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. from Skyline High School.