Playing in a packed gymnasium at River Hill last night, Atholton rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to upset the Hawks, 63-62, and remain undefeated in boys basketball.

The visiting Raiders (5-0 overall, 4-0 league) pulled within one point with 1:29 left on center Jonas Vitkas' three-point play.

River Hill ran the clock down to 23 seconds before Atholton's Jim McQuilkin stole the ball. After a timeout to set up a play, the Raiders' Micah Mbah scored on a pass from Craig Sauers with six seconds left, giving Atholton its first lead since the first quarter.

River Hill had a chance to win, but Richie Jackson's driving shot at the buzzer missed.

Mbah led Atholton with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Vitkas scored 13 points. Brandon Boy scored 12 points.

Atholton's starters sat out the last minute of the third quarter and first five minutes of the fourth quarter, and the second team closed an 11-point gap to a four-point deficit, 60-56, before the first team came back for the final three minutes.

Vitkas, a transfer from DeMatha who was playing just his second game after undergoing outpatient surgery two weeks ago, scored 10 points in the fourth quarter after River Hill's two best frontcourt players, Matt Glover and Ben Nowak, fouled out.

"The second team gave us new life and won the game for us," said Atholton coach Jim Albert. "No one said it would be easy, but I told them at halftime that if we could get the lead down to 10 points, then we could win it, and they believed. That's a big win."

River Hill (4-2, 3-2) dominated the second quarter with an intense defensive effort that created nine Atholton turnovers. The Hawks also shot 9-for-18 from the field that quarter, including four three-point baskets. The Hawks led by as many as 17 points.

Glover got his fourth foul midway through the third period, and Atholton began cutting the deficit, getting it down to 53-43 after three quarters.

Michael Holly, Brent Stewart, McQuilkin, Chris Dooley and Vitkas all played well off the bench for Atholton.

Glover picked up his fifth foul with 6:21 to play and Atholton scored the next six points, cutting the lead to 53-51 with 4:45 to play.

"They made a big play, and the ball just didn't bounce our way at the end," said River Hill coach Brian Van Deusen. "We wanted to hold the ball at the end. We weren't going to shoot. But we turned it over. We also turned it over the first two possessions of the fourth quarter with our experienced guys on the floor. We made some poor decisions."