North Medford senior Dylan Scott, shown at left earlier this season, scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to spur a comeback effort Friday at Sheldon.

North Medford gave itself a chance to close the gap in the Southwest Conference boys basketball standings but Sheldon was able to hold on against a Medford team yet again to score a narrow 54-49 triumph Friday night.

The Black Tornado rallied from a second-quarter lull to create a one-possession game late in the fourth quarter but couldn’t find the mark when they needed it most against the conference-leading Irish.

“We had an early segment in the second quarter where we got a little bit behind and it was a battle from there,” said North Medford head coach Scott Plankenhorn. “It was a highly competitive game and we had a chance a couple of times late, but we just couldn’t get there.”

Senior guard Dylan Scott, who recently returned from injury, scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to help spur the comeback bid by North Medford (11-7, 4-2 SWC). Scott was 8-for-14 from the field to go with four assists.

Easton Curtis came up with eight points, six rebounds, two steals and three assists and Nate Anderson had eight points, five boards and two assists for the Black Tornado.

Sheldon, which won 57-54 at South Medford on Jan. 10, rode a 23-13 wave in the second quarter to a lead the Irish (14-5, 6-0) did not relinquish.

Rocco Graziano heated up with three of his five 3-pointers in the second quarter for Sheldon, and finished with 20 points.

Nathan Sheley was 4-for-6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to help keep North Medford at bay, and Eli Forsha tallied 11 points.

“There were a couple turnovers that we need to clean up and a couple rebounds we didn’t get that we needed to get if we wanted to get over the hump,” said Plankenhorn. “It was a highly competitive game, though, and they did what they had to do to hold homecourt.”

North Medford wrapped up the first round of SWC play tied with South Medford for second place, with both teams two games behind Sheldon as they enter Tuesday’s crosstown matchup in the Black Tornado gym.

“I guess the good and bad of it is we’re through the first half and we’re 4-2 and only two games behind,” said Plankenhorn, “and the good news is we do now have five out of six (games remaining) at home. What we’ve talked about the whole time is we’ve got to take care of homecourt somehow. We tried to get as many as we could on the road, now we’ll see if we can hold our homecourt.”

Girls Basketball

NORTH MEDFORD 52, SHELDON 34: At Eugene, North Medford senior Caileigh Raines produced 16 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and four steals to help the Black Tornado snap a three-game losing streak and earn a big SWC road victory.

Olivia Boger chimed in with a career-high eight steals to go with 10 points and six rebounds for North Medford (6-12, 3-3 SWC), while Sophia West added 10 points and four rebounds and Mariah Lane went 3-for-4 from beyond the arc for nine points.

The Black Tornado — now fourth in the SWC standings — jumped out to a 12-4 lead behind seven points by Boger in the first quarter, then saw Raines heat up with eight of her points in the second quarter to create a 31-14 advantage by halftime over Sheldon (10-8, 2-4).