The Griffin Bears basketball team had a flat first half, including a measly 4 points in the second quarter, en route to a big 56-41 loss to the Riverdale Raiders Friday night in Region 4-AAAA Division B action at The House on Senior Night.

The Bears couldn’t get anything going offensively and fell to 12-11 overall and 6-8 in region play, good for fifth place in the subregion standings. Riverdale, in second place, improves to 14-10, 10-4 and swept the season series with Griffin. The Bears have dropped 6 of their last 7 games.

Griffin started slowly, but a 3-pointer by young guard Dee Hastings gave the Bears a 10-9 lead after the first quarter. The Bears got two baskets by point guard Jaquez Parks to give them a 14-13 lead early in the second, but that was the last lead they would have. Riverdale would go on a 10-0 run to end the quarter and lead 23-14 at halftime.

Both teams traded baskets in the third and Riverdale led 37-29 heading into the final stanza. Riverdale went up 45-36 after a basket by Josh Milam with 4:07 left in regulation and then put serious ball pressure on the Bears. The Bears couldn’t handle the pressure and turned the ball over on several occasions. While the iron was unkind to Griffin, the Raiders out-rebounded and out-hustled the Bears and sprinted to a double-digit lead, 52-36, with a little more than 2:00 remaining. The Raiders coasted afterwards for the final margin.

Milam led all scorers with 17 points, followed by 15 from Quincy January and 14 from William McClelland of Riverdale.

Griffin was led by Parks with 8 points. Senior guard J.R. Ellis, Anforne’ Stroud and Hastings all chipped in 6 points for Griffin, which hosts region foe North Clayton Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. North Clayton is currently third in the subregion.