The streak is over.

Thomas Jefferson snapped a six-game boys basketball losing streak with a 66-44 victory over Kent-Meridian Saturday, Jan. 17 - although the Raiders turned around to lose a close 65-63 game to Kentlake Tuesday, Jan. 20.

Raider head coach David Stone was left feeling for his players after both games.

“It’s just a tough one, man,” said Stone after the loss to Kentlake. “Just kids that are working their tails off and it doesn’t pay off in the success the have to get. We like to see good things happen to a good bunch of kids.”

Stone offered similar sentiments after the win over Kent-Meridian.

“The kids worked their way through adversity and continue to stay positive,” said Stone, whose team lost a top scorer when he moved to North Carolina for personal reasons. “They needed a win to pay off for their hard work and attitudes.”

The Raiders’ season is anything but over, continuing at 7:30 p.m. Thursday with a home game against Federal Way.

TJ stands at 4-7 in South Puget Sound League North Division action and is still aiming for one of five SPSL tournament berths out of the nine-team division. The team stands at 5-8 overall with seven games to go.

The Raiders play a non-league snow makeup game at Mercer Island at 7:30 p.m. today.

“Then we’re in the regular (league) rotation,” said Stone. “There’s still a long ways to go.”

The road got a little shorter with the win over Kent-Meridian.

The Raiders started off the game by falling into a 4-0 hole, but quickly climbed out of it on back-to-back buckets by Nate Walin.

The game then fell into a back-and-forth mode with the Raiders leading, 14-12, at the end of the first quarter.

TJ put together an eight-point string early in the second quarter to lead, 25-17, with just over two minutes to go before halftime.

Xavyr Moss started it off with a basket and foul shot for a three-point play before Eric Radford made a standard two-pointer and Chuol Gatbel iced two free throws. Radford sank a two-pointer to cap off the rally.

The Raiders gradually built a 33-24 advantage by halftime, ending with two free throws by Gatbel at the 5.3-second mark. TJ then worked its way out to a 41-28 lead by 3:41 to play in the third quarter when Moss drove up and in for a basket.

Jefferson’s lead went up to 48-32 at 3.0 seconds to play in the third quarter and Moss nailed a three-pointer to open the fourth and make it 51-32. Justin Lanier capped off the scoring for TJ when he iced three of four free throws with 30.8 seconds to play to make it 66-42.

Moss led the Raiders with 17 points as Radford scored 11 and Joe Satterwhite 10. Gatbel and Walin added eight each.

“We definitely needed that,” said Stone of the win. “We just needed it for our confidence.”

The Raiders also played well against Kentlake, but came up two points shy in the end. Justin Lanier led the Raiders with 21 points on seven three-pointers as Moss scored 14, Cramer Doughty 10 and Gatbel nine.

Kentlake jumped out to a 10-2 lead, then the Raiders cut it to 15-14 with a three-point basket by Lanier with 35 seconds to play in the first quarter. TJ only trailed, 17-14, at the end of the period and led by a 30-27 score at halftime after a three-point bucket by Doughty.

Kentlake came right back in the third quarter for a 32-20 lead before Moss took it back again at 36-34 on back-to-back shots.

The Raiders led, 47-44, at the end of the third quarter, before Kentlake went on a nine-point roll to open the fourth quarter.

TJ put together a seven-point run to cut the margin to 62-61 with 1:19 to play. Kentlake fought back to lead, 65-61, with 2.3 seconds left, then the Raiders were left down by four with one second to go.

Radford fielded a long pass in front of the basket, and turned around to put it in at the buzzer to put the final score at 65-63.