George Mason High School’s boys varsity basketball team was distracted by a week of midterm exams last night, but still passed an important test with a 55-50 victory over Strasburg High School.

Senior guard Eion Oosterbaan hit a 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter, giving the Mustangs a 11-8 edge over the Rams. The Mustangs opened up an 11-point lead by the end of the second, but the Rams did not give up, even after going down by 14 points in the third. In the fourth, the Rams came back and overtook the Mustangs with 2:15 left in the game when sophomore forward Jonathan Kloosterman hit two free throws to put Strasburg ahead 44-45.

The lead changed twice more before senior forward Nate Ogle hit a 3-pointer with under a minute left to put the Mustangs ahead for good. Senior guard Noel Obusan and senior forward Dimitri Venets together sank six free-throws in the final seconds of the game to guarantee victory.