RALEIGH — With first place implications in the 1A Central Tar Heel Conference on the line, Chatham Charter suffered a critical 49-42 defeat to Raleigh Charter on Tuesday evening in Wake County.
Chatham Charter dropped to 10-3 in the league with the loss, ending hopes for a regular season conference crown.
Chatham Central and Research Triangle both stand at 11-2 and were scheduled to decided the title on Friday night in Durham.
The Knights, now 23-3 overall, shot just 36% from the field, going 16-44 in the contest. That mark was only compounded by the locals miseries from behind the arc where the locals shot 8% (1-12), and at the free throw line which resulted in just a 41% (9-22) clip.
Raleigh Charter took an 11-4 lead period of play and never trailed again.
Chatham Charter pulled to within 17-14 at the break, but were outscored 19-14 in the third to fall behind 36-28 entering the fourth.
The locals closed to within four on several occasions in the final stanza, but ultimately dropped the 49-42 loss.
Jordan Hamilton paced the Knights with 14 points, going 5-of-9 from the field, and 5-of-9 from the charity stripe, while also adding seven rebounds and two steals.
Connor Murphy also added 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting while chipping in six rebounds and three steals.