vs. Houston Christian JV

On November 12, Stratford shot 7 of 8 from the foul line in the 4th quarter to put a close, back-and-forth game into the victory column with a 63-56 win over Houston Christian.

Not atypical for an early-season game while still integrating players into the rotation, the Spartans lacked some continuity in the first quarter, which ended 10-16 with Stratford down. The second quarter saw a pickup in the level of play from Stratford. A Teagan Tedrow 3-pointer evened the game midway through the 2nd quarter, and John Ryan capitalized on a hit-ahead from William Ubell to make a halftime buzzer-beating three-pointer to put the Spartans up 28-26 at the half.

The 2nd half stayed close, with several lead changes and an eventual 3-point lead at the end of the third quarter after consistent scoring by Ben Harris (7 points in the 3rd ). The 4th quarter was within one possession until Tedrow hit a clutch 3-pointer to put the Spartans up 4. With time running down, Houston Christian was forced to foul, and Stratford hit 7 out of 8 free throws to close the game and stretch the winning margin to 7, with the final score of 63-56.

Ben Harris paced Stratford with 18. Ryan added 14, and Xavier scored 11. Tedrow contributed 8 timely points, and Alex Harris added 4.