Led by Kyle Caudill with 19 points and Travis McClendon with 15 points, the varsity boys’ basketball team rallied from 17 points down to defeat the Palm Bay Pirates 74-64 Thursday night.

“We always go into a game against Palm Bay believing we can win,” junior Daniel Shelton said. “They are more athletic then us and they used this to their advantage in the first half of the game, however we are smarter on the floor.”

At the beginning of the third quarter, the boys were down by 17.

“I think mentally we just weren’t there during the first half,” McClendon said. “So the second half we knew we had to dig ourselves out of a hole and come out strong.”

According to Shelton as the Wildcats began to catch up, the crowd was going wild which helped hype the team.

“The fans gave us energy throughout the game and especially helped when we started to come back from our deficit. Their cheering and support definitely played a role in our win.”

The boys travel next to take on the Viera Hawks on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

By Madeleine Coalter